


Never mix Felix Felicis with Amortentia

by PetitePirate



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Comfort, Competition, Death Eater Draco Malfoy, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Potions, Slow Burn, Teamwork
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 34,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25787419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetitePirate/pseuds/PetitePirate
Summary: “What is it, Draco ?”The Slytherin prefect sighed. “My potions skills aren't good enough. If I want to get this damn Felix Felicis, I’ll need to pair up with someone brilliant”.Crabbe and Goyle seemed confused, but Zabini understood immediately.“Oh no… not that…”Malfoy’s expression confirmed his doubts.“Yes Blaise…I’ll need “the best in our year””.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 26
Kudos: 80





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Ne mélangez jamais du Félix Félicis avec de l'Amortentia](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9579815) by [PetitePirate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetitePirate/pseuds/PetitePirate). 



> Hello everyone !  
> This is a translation of my French fanfiction "Ne mélangez jamais du Félix Félicis à de l'Amortentia", which is a reboot of the 6th Harry Potter book.  
> I know that it's risky, because English is not my mother-tongue and Harry Potter fanfictions in English are really great, but at least, I'll work on my English skills ^^' So keep that in mind while you read !

Malfoy looked at Harry and Ron with an evil look, as they were welcomed with open arms by professor Slughorn despite their tardiness. Not only he thought he got rid of them at least in one class, but once again, the famous Harry Potter managed to use his notoriety to get out of trouble.

Had they arrived late during Snape’s class, he’d have them expelled from the class… to his great pleasure.

“Senile Slug”, Nott called out next to him.

The Slytherin prefect couldn’t agree more.

“ _Now then,”_ said Slughorn _, “I’ve prepared a few potions for you to have a look at, just out of interest, you know. These are the kind of thing you ought to be able to make after completing your N.E.W.T.s. You ought to have heard of ‘em, even if you haven’t made ‘em yet. Anyone tell me what this one is?”_

Malfoy didn’t even bother to look at the potion next to him. Granger’s hand already hit the air, like a pathetic first year. The more time passed, the more his hated for her grew. He pitied her, actually. Poor little Mudblood trying to act as if she was better than everyone else.

“ _It’s Veritaserum, a colorless, odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth_ ”, Hermione said.

_“Very good, very good!” said Slughorn happily. “Now,” he continued, pointing at the cauldron nearest the Ravenclaw table, “this one here is pretty well known…Featured in a few Ministry leaflets lately too…Who can —?”_

Once again, Hermione was the fastest.

_“lt’s Polyjuice Potion, sir,” she said._

This time, Malfoy straightened up a bit. Polyjuice ? That could come in handy. He scribbled on a piece of parchment and passed it to Crabbe and Goyle. They gave him a dumbfounded look, which made him roll his eyes. Talking about stupidity… Finally, his two acolytes leaned to read the parchment were Malfoy wrote “I’m gonna need this potion”. They rose their heads to look at Slughorn talking about the effects of the potion.

Malfoy flicked his wand discreetly so the parchment would tear itself into tiny pieces. No need to attract Slughorn’s unwanted attention on him. Anyway, the professor seemed completely obsessed by Granger, as if she did something extraordinary.

_“Granger? Granger? Can you possibly be related to Hector Dagworth-Granger, who founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?”_

Malfoy contained a mocking grin.

_“No. I don’t think so, sir. I’m Muggle-born, you see.”_

The Slytherin prefect close to Nott and whispered: “Poor Slug’s probably disappointed”.

Both of them sniggered without noticing Harry’s disgruntled look. But to Malfoy’s surprise, Slughorn said genially: _“Well, well, take twenty well-earned points for Gryffindor, Miss Granger”_.

This time, Malfoy’s jaw dropped open. He never saw a Slytherin director favoring another house than his own. It was unacceptable ! If Snape was here, if his father was here, there’d be a scandal ! Sulky, he lost his interest for the class. He even thought about dropping the class, when…

_“I take it that you know what Felix Felicis does, Miss Granger?”_

_“It’s liquid luck,” said Hermione excitedly._ _“It makes you lucky!”_

Liquid luck ? Malfoy straightened up. He wasn’t the only one, the whole class did. That’s what he needed. Luck. He would succeed in its mission within minutes thanks to this little potion. He needed it. Crabbe and Goyle had to steal it too !

“And this is what I shall be offering as a prize at the end of the semester”, Slughorn decided.

Malfoy struggled to contain his impatience.

“However”, said Professor Slughorn, “I always believed one creates his own luck. This is why I shall give two students the possibility to win a little dose of luck. Twelve hours each.”

He took the little bottle containing the Felix Felicis and put it in his pocket after presenting it to his students.

“Twelve hours of luck if you succeed”

He flicked his wand and instructions appeared on the chalkboard. Malfoy quickly grabbed his quill, and for a few minutes, all that was heard were the scribbling on the parchments. Professor Slughorn seemed extremely pleased with the reaction he provoked. 

“I’m glad to see you’re all very dedicated to win. Because you will need it. This year, you’ll work in pairs to create a potion. This homework will be inspired from Fibrius Libretron’s discovery.

Hermione let out an audible gasp and Slughorn turned to her with a large smile.

“Maybe you’d like to explain to the class what I’m talking about, Miss Granger ?”

“Fibrius Libretron discovered the Amnesia Potion while studying the ingredients of its opposite potion, the Memory Potion. He was a pioneer for a new era for potioneers, who started analyzing venoms and poison compositions in order to create new antidotes.

“Exactly ! Ten points for Gryffindor. Of course, at the time, Libretron couldn’t possibly know he was about to make a discovery that would forever change the way we study potions, but till this day, his technique is still used. However, keep in mind there are many many ways to make major breakthroughs in magic and most of them are due to luck.

Seamus got close to Dean Thomas to whisper:

“He’s right, I found out by chance that Death Cap in a Wiggenweld Potion was the best way to scare off Eloise Midgen.

Both of them giggled, unlike Malfoy who wasn’t looking very pleased.

“You want us to play with potions ?” he asked with a condescending tone. “Without any proper instructions ? We’re not potioneers.”

“Surprise me !” Slughorn said happily. “The art of making a potion is also based on luck. Did you know many of my students made great discoveries during my classes ?”

“So what, Longbottom has always been experiencing in exploding potions since first year, nothing great came out of it”, Pansy Parkinson claimed.

All Slytherins laughed, while Neville curled up in shame.

Despite Professor Slughorn’s reply, Malfoy wasn’t convinced. This old senile didn’t know what to make them do and was messing with them. He noticed he wasn’t the only one confused. Ron Weasley’s face was red with concentration, the Ravenclaws were turning the pages of their books without any conviction. Hermione Granger, however, seemed very satisfied, as is she totally understood what was asked of them.

“I will give each group a vial with an extremely complicated potion. Be very cautious when you work with it. You have until after Christmas holidays to find out all the ingredients and come up with a potion that can annihilate its effects or have the opposite effects.” Slughorn said. “Of course, it won’t be possible to come up with a perfect solution, but the team who will have be the closest shall be given the Felix Felicis ! But since I do not want to favour one house over the other, we will randomize the teams next class. You’ll have time until then to think about the problematic.”

Malfoy glanced at Zabini Blaise. Not being able to work with a Slytherin was the icing on the dragon.

“So, now that the assignment has been given for the semester, today, let’s roll up our sleeves and attempt to make a decent Draught of Living Death”, Slughorn decided, clapping in hands.

.

.

.

“This old flabberghasted leech completely lost his mind”, Malfoy muttered to Blaise as they walked to their dorm.

“But can you imagine ? Twelve hours of luck”, his friend replied with a dreamy look. “What would you do if you won ?”

Malfoy didn’t reply. He dropped on his bed and considered his options.

“I need this potion. But I can’t do it by myself. I’m gonna need someone who can help me”.

“How about Nott ?” Blaise suggested with a sneer. “He’s good in potions”.

But he stopped when he realized his prefect wasn’t laughing at all.

“The teams are randomized anyway, there’s nothing you can do about it”, he remarked.

“Didn’t you hear Slughorn ?” Malfoy retorted with an evil look. “One creates his luck. I just have to rig the selections”.

At this moment, Crabbe and Goyle entered the dorms.

“There, Malfoy, we took just enough so it won’t be noticed”, Goyle said.

He handed him a bottle to Malfoy who blinked in surprise before snatching it out of his hand. While putting it in front of a light, he saw a distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen that looked nothing like Polyjuice.

“What the hell is that ?” he asked abruptly.

“Well… you told us you needed this one, right ?”

Malfoy rolled his eyes.

“Does it look like Polyjuice to you ? Idiots !” he exclaimed, throwing the bottle in his trunk whose lid shut with the shock. “Can’t you just do one thing without me having to babysit you ? How am I supposed to…”

He stopped talking when he seemed to realize something. He frowned.

“Oh no…” he murmured for himself.

Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle glanced at each other.

“What is it, Draco ?”

The Slytherin prefect sighed. “My potions skills aren’t good enough. If I want to get this damn Felix Felicis, I’ll need to pair up with someone brilliant”.

Crabbe and Goyle seemed confused, but Zabini however understood immediately.

“Oh no… not that…”

Malfoy’sigh confirmed his doubts.

“Yes Blaise…I’ll need “the best in our year””.

“Granger will never pair up with you”

“Unless I don’t give her the choice”

“And what if she tries to sabotage you instead ?”

“This filthy little Mudblood cares too much about her grades for this.” Malefoy turned to Crabbe and Goyle. “You two, you get the Polyjuice for me and this time, no slacking”.

He stood up, fixed his tie and took his bag before leaving the dorm. He needed to go to Hogsmeade before, without anyone noticing. Hopefully, the third-floor passageway would be helpful this year.


	2. Chapter 2

Malfoy tossed the _Daily Prophet_ before him, knocking over Nott’s cereals who protested. “Eh !”

The prefect ignored him. Arthur Weasley, once again, raided the Malfoy manor. He looked at Potter and Weasley who stuffed their faces with food under the disapproving look of Granger. Tomorrow, they had class with Slughorn. He needed to be teamed up with her. The whole idea was enough to give me nauseas but… he had no choice. Absent-mindedly, he grazed his sleeve, where under it was, he knew it, the Dark Mark. Being chosen was an honor. He had to rise to the challenge.

“Hey, Draco !

He turned to Crabbe.

“The Gryffindor Quidditch selections are happening today ! Apparently, Weasley is trying out for Keeper. Want to come ?”

The idea was tempting, but Malefoy threw him his toast.

“I have more important things to do than watching Weasley trying to handle a broom”

“Really ? Like what ?” Zabini asked. “You don’t have the Polyjuice yet so…”

“Keep your voice down !” Malefoy interrupted him, glacing at a group of second years next to them.

He sighed as they exited the Great Hall, laughing.

.

.

The Slytherin group crossed the park under hostiles looks from Gryffindors who came looking at the Quidditch selections. They sat in a corner of the bleachers to mock the first years who couldn’t even fly properly.

“Look at this.” Pansy Parkinson said. “If any of them makes it to the team, you might as well give us the cup already”.

Right across them, Parvati Patil and Lavander Brown were talking and giggling as Dean Thomas was waving at Ginny Weasley warming up on the field. Hermione Granger was sitting a bit further away, a book open on her knees and staring at Ron with a worried look on her face.

“I hope the Slytherins won’t make him lose his nerves”, she murmured for herself.

But the latter didn’t hesitate to shout and laugh during the first two groups’ selections, especially when a first year crushed his broom against a goal hoop. At least, Hermione noted, Malefoy wasn’t among them. She glared at them when Jimmy Peakes hit Harry with a Bludger and sighed when McLaggen finally took off on his broom. She drew out her wand and held it under her book, looking right and left to make sure no one was watching her.

“Confundo”, she whispered.

.

.

“Ah, Mr Malefoy, come in, come in, Slughorn said absent-mindedly, without even looking.

He was busy scribbling on tiny pieced of parchments. Malfoy discreetly checked the cauldrons and noticed that, to his satisfaction, the amount of Polyjuice potion had decreased. Apparently, Crabbe and Goyle did their job before going to Gryffindor tryouts. And they wouldn’t be suspicious this way. However, he couldn’t see the Felix Felicis potions. Certainly Slughorn was keeping them under surveillance, since they were prizes.

“How can I help you ?”

The Slytherin prefect cleared his throat.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you”

“Not at all, not at all”, Slughorn replied, waving to show the leather purse and the parchment pieces. “I was just preparing for tomorrow selections.”

Malefoy’s hand grabbed his wand still in his pocket and he looked for Granger’s name.

“So, what are you doing here ?”

“Well, I came for Zabini. He said you had an invitation for the Slug Club today, and since he can’t come by himself…”

“Ah yes, yes, Zabini, very good student”, Slughorn replied.

Malefoy shook his head, wondering how could Slughorn know that since it was just the beginning of the school year. It’s like he was invisible because he wasn’t part of Slughorn’s precious little club. But it didn’t matter. He pulled out his wand when the professor turned his back on him, still rambling.

“His mother was also one of my students. A very talented woman, you know. She always added an inspiring touch to her potions. She was very talented with poisons, might I add, maybe even better than Lily Potter…”

But Malfoy wasn’t listening. He’d just found Granger’s name and touched it with the tip of his wand. The letters shined for a second, then became black again.

“There it is !” Slughorn said, turning around with a scroll of parchment tied with a violet ribbon.

Malfoy hid his wand just in time.

“And don’t forget to tell him we’ll have the charming Melinda Bobbin, you know her I presume ? Her family owns a large chain of apothecaries and…”

“I’m sure he’ll be pleased, sir”, Malefoy interrupted. “If you don’t mind, I really need to get ready for dinner”.

And without even waiting for an answer, he walked away. Stupid professor.

He went to his dorm to drop his bag and went upstairs to the Great Hall for dinner. He saw Potter holding Granger and, without even meaning to, overheard her saying:

“ _Oh, all right then, I did Confunded McLaggen. But you should have heard the way he was talking about Ron and Ginny! Anyway, he’s got a nasty temper, you saw how he reacted when he didn’t get in — you wouldn’t have wanted someone like that on the team.”_

The Slytherin prefect contained a sneer. And to think that Gryffindors were blaming them for cheating. He was thinking of something to tell them, when he saw Slughorn coming out from the dungeons.

“Ah ! Harry, there you are !”

Malefoy quickly went into the Great Hall to avoid him. It wasn’t necessary to use that piece of information right now anyway. Everything was in place for tomorrow.

.

.

.

He just needed to be the first to pull out a parchment, he tought, as Slughorn flicked the leather purse.

“When your name is called, you’ll stand in front of the same cauldron, alright ? So, who shall we start with ?”

Malfoy and Hermione’s hands hit the air simultaneously. Everyone looked at the Slytherin who tried his best to appear neutral. Granger was looking at him coldly, thinking he was mocking her by imitating her, but grew puzzled when he didn’t put his hand down. When he gave her a deviant look, she turned away.

“Well, ladies first”, Slughorn said.

“In Granger’s particular condition, I think we can make an exception”, Malfoy retorted.

“Draco, don’t do this”, Pansy whispered. “If you pick a paper now, you’ll…’

Ron was about to say something, but Seamus stopped him and shook his head. Slughorn seemed hesitant.

“Well…I…”

“It’s okay, professor”, Hermione said, putting her hand down. “Let him pick”

Satisfied, Malfoy stood up and reached for the pursed. The parchment with Granger’s name would magically stuck in his hand. As soon as he felt one paper not moving, he drew out his hand, trying to not smirk. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when…

“Ah, Mr Malfoy, you’ll team up with Mr Longbottom, then”, Slughorn announced.

“What ?” Malfoy yelped.

The Gryffindors laughed at him and encouraged Neville who didn’t seem very enthousiast either. Hermione couldn’t help but feel satisfied as she looked at a disppointed Malfoy who went back to his place.

“Not sure Longbottom was the best choice to win”, Zabini couldn’t help but tease him.

“Shut up, Blaise”, Malfoy retorted.

“I told you not to go”, Pansy said. “Nott rigged Neville’s parchment for Granger so he’d have a chance to win !”

The Slytherin prefect put his head in his hands. Of course, Hermione picked her own name, as he should have and put it back in the bag before drawing out a new name.

“Miss Granger, you’ll team up with Miss Greengrass then”.

Hermione didn’t seem ecstatic by her partner either and Daphne frowned when she heard her name. The two girls sat next to each other silently. Malfoy knew he had to think fast. From what he remembered, Daphne was kind of shallow as a person, a quality Nott worshipped particularly.

“What are you going to do now ?” Goyle asked.

When Malfoy raised an eyebrow while looking at him, he rolled his eyes. Once again, Crabbe and him would have to do the dirty work.

.

.

.

“Mr Weasley, I’m expecting you to use nonverbal spell in my class, professor McGonagall, gently tapping the racoon he was supposed to metamorphose with the tip of her wand to turn him back into a gobelet.

Malfoy was ruminating on his thoughts while playing with his rabbit who was trying to escape his box, terrified of the sparks coming out of his wand. He was clearly wasting his time in this class and couldn’t wait for it to end.

As he was thinking about it, the bell rang. He was about to rush outside when…

“Mr Malfoy, a moment, please”

What did she want, the old hag ? Malfoy sighed and dragged himself in front of McGonagall’s desk, without even trying to hide his annoyance.

“As you already know, you haven’t submitted your two scrolls on animal metamorphosis this week. And last week, you also didn’t bother completing your homework on metamorphic usage during the Second Troll War. Such behavior is unacceptable in my class.”

Malfoy hoped secretely she would expel him from his class. But McGonagall was too persistent.

“I warned you last time. I won’t tolerate your laziness. Twenty points will be taken from Slytherin and you’ll be in detention this Saturday.”

“This Saturday ?” Malefoy repeated. “But…”

“And though I’m sure you’d rather amuse yourself at Hogsmeade with your friends, you should have thought about it before deciding not to take this class seriously.” Professor McGonagall said. “You’ll come here after breakfast. And I do hope for your sake that you’ll be more studious in the future”

Malfoy was so mad he accidentally bumped into Hermione in the corridor as she waited for Professor McGonagall to talk about her essay. He opened his mouth to insult her, but suddenly:

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh !”

The scream made them turn around abruptly. Neville Longbottom was rolling on the floor, his hands on his face. The Head of Gryffindor stormed out of her office and prevented anyone from getting close to Neville.

“What happened ?” she shouted.

But no one could reply. McGonagal flicked her wand and Neville stopped moving and seemed to calm himself little by little. That’s when Malfoy realized he had huge red patches full of pus on his body.

“Miss Granger, take Mr Longbottom to the hospital wing now.”

Hermione nodded and helped Neville standing up.

“Come Neville, it’s okay. Madam Pomfrey will help you. What happened, now ?”

But Malfoy could guess what happened. He turned at the end of the corridor and found himself face to face with Crabbe and Goyle.

“So, what did you do to him ?”

“Allergy Spell”, one of them replied. “Longbottom will be allergic to cauldron for quite a long time before they can come up with an antidote”

Malfoy raised an eyebrow.

“You’re both way too stupid to have come up with this idea”

“The Weasley twins inspired us”, Crabbe said, although he didn’t appreciate being called stupid. “We combined the candies with an Allergy Spell”

“…”

“…Okay, we got the idea from a book at Zonko’s Joke Shop”, Goyle admitted.

Malfoy nodded. All was left to do was Blaise and his little show. 

.

.

“Well, I believe we’re gonna have some little changes”, Slughorn murmured.

Malfoy glanced at Hermione who was looking over her shoulder, hoping to see Daphne Greengrass. They had been called in Slughorn’s office at the end of the class.

“I’m afraid Miss Greengrass decided to quit potion class.

“What ?” Hermione exclaimed. “But…we need to work together !”

Malfoy looked over his shoulder too just to see Zabini waving at him before leaving the classroom and couldn’t help but be impressed. His friend inherited the beauty and the intellect of his mother. It was actually scary how he could convince Daphne to drop out of potions.

“And with Mr Longbottom excused due to his allergy, I have no choice but put the two of you together”

Hermione took a deep breath to prevent herself from shouting.

“Madam Pomfrey will cure Neville, isn’t she ?” she said. “From the time being, I can work alone”.

“Unfortunately, she had been very clear on Mr Longbottom’s case. He won’t be able to complete his course this semester”.

Malfoy contained a sigh of relief. It took time, but everything was finally in its place. Hermione stayed silent, though she apparently had a lot to say, she waited until they got out of the office.

“I’m warning you”, she said, pointing a menacing finger at him. “If you’re trying to sabotage me in any way, I’ll make sure YOU go to the Hospital Wing for the rest of the semester”.

“Shut up, Granger, don’t make empty promises. You’re a prefect.”

“Oh, believe me, that won’t stop me when it comes to you.”

Her eyes were flashing and she walked away with an upset huff. Zabini stood next to Malfoy to watch her leave.

“So…Congratulations, I suppose ?”

Malfoy didn’t reply. At least from now on, things would be much easier.


	3. Chapter 3

Things were not easier. On the contrary. Malfoy hated Hermione and couldn’t stand her in class. But outside class hours, he realized she was much much worse. Because she was demanding of herself, she expected the best from others, especially him.

She was worse than a harpy, he thought.

Even though, much to his relief, Hermione was limiting their interactions, the hours she spent in the library were proportional to the number of books she was asking him to read. Almost every morning, she would drop some books next to his plate at the Great Hall.

“Read those”, she would say before walking back to the Gryffindor’s table.

One day, he couldn’t take it anymore, grabbed the pile of books and rushed to the library where she was working. Focused on her arithmancy essay, she jumped in surprise when he dropped the pile of books next to her.

“I’m not your lackey, Granger”

“Fine”, she replied in a surprisingly calm voice. “I’ll tell Slughorn we’re not getting along and you’ll wait for Neville’s return”.

And she went back to her essay. Malfoy frowned.

“So that’s your plan, right ?” he asked. “Pushing me to my limit until I give up”.

The prefect of Gryffindor flashed a fake smile at him.

“Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t push my buttons before, Malfoy. You should thank me, I’m actually thinking about your best interests here”.

Malfoy rolled his eyes; he didn’t have time for this, he needed to go back to the Room of Requirements. Hermione sighed as she glanced at him walking away.

.

.

.

It was way more difficult than he had previously imagined. No matter what he tried, nothing was working. On top of that, he couldn’t make too much noise, because there were third years who had classes nearby. And of course, no one to ask for help.

He had confirmation by Borgin that the necklace was at Hogsmeade. It would have been way simpler to received it himself, but for some reasons, not having control over the whole operation made him feel way safer.

He couldn’t really understand why, until Saturday came and he was in detention, writing his metamorphose essay, that he understood why. He was shaking. This opal necklace was very dangerous, and he didn’t want to see what damage it could cause. Malfoy wasn’t even sure he could take responsibility for it. When he looked at his reflection in the window’s glass, he found himself livid.

“Well, you can go, now, Mr Malfoy” professor McGonagall said at lunch time, without rasing her head from the letter she was writing.

Malfoy put the essay on her desk and went to the library. At least, with the Hogsmeade trip, it would be less crowded and he could access the Restricted Section without arousing suspicion.

.

.

.

“Katie !”.

Leanne’s face was covered with tears. Malfoy was taken aback when he saw Katie Bell’s chalky face and felt cold shivers.

He knew… he knew what happened in you touched the opal necklace. But seeing it in front of him was horrific. He rushed to the bathroom and threw up everything he ate for lunch.

“Shit…I can’t…” he muttered between two cries.

He felt tears running down his cheeks and slapped himself to come back to his senses. Those were the Dark Lord’s way. His aunt’s. But he couldn’t do it as mechanically as them. But he must.

His stomach twisted just thinking about it and he threw up again.

.

.

.

“Are you listening to me ?”

Malfoy looked at Hermione. They were in the library, or at least, she called him and demanded they work together.

“What ?”

The Gryffindor sighed.

“I warned you, Malfoy: if we’re going to work together, you have to put on efforts”.

“Shut up, Granger”, he retorted. “I have enough teachers as it is”.

He wasn’t feeling well since he heard Katie Bell had been transferred to St Mungo’s Hospital. Potter was eyeing at him with suspicion and he was certain Granger had doubts herself about him. Hermione closed her eyes and refrained herself from insulting him. Lost in his thoughts, Malfoy heard her voice from afar:

“I know why you’re doing this. You must have planned this one way or another”

The Slythering prefect felt his heart skip a beat and turned to her. He “planned this”, she said ? Did she know ? Did Potter tell her something ?

“What’s that supposed to mean ?” he stammered.

Was she investigating him ? About Katie, about the necklace… !

“You want the Felix Felicis for yourself”, Hermione replied, shrugging her shoulders. “That’s why you said nothing the day Slughorn put us together. Deep down, it’s in your best interest to team up with me, you think you’ll have more chance winning”.

Malfoy frowned and said in a disdainful tone: “I’d never team up with a Mudblood”.

His remark was followed by a tensed silence. Hermione took the parchment he was writing on and glanced at him with a severe look.

“You only noted ten ingredients, Malfoy. Even the potions we make in the first year have more than this.” She threw the parchment back at him and concluded: “Don’t think I’ll leave you alone. Either you wake up, or you’re gonna have a pretty bad year”.

“That’s already the case”, Malfoy replied.

Though he really wanted the Felix Felicis, he had a few problems standing in his way: he hated Hermione, the work they had to do was very complicated and he was just beginning to understand how demanding it would be. And most importantly, he had no time for potions.

“Start again”, Hermione ordered to him.

“I’m advising you to show me a little more respect, Granger. Or you’ll regret it”.

Hermione was red with anger. “ You haven’t earned my respect, Malfoy ?”

“What would be worth the respect of Mudblood anyway ? People like you are the shame of the wizard world and should be grateful not to be treated the same way as house-elves.

Hermione pulled out her wand and sent all his stuff crashing against the window. Malfoy reacted by standing up and drawing out his wand too.

“That’s one step too far, Granger. _Stup_ …!”

But Hermione was the most talented in nonverbal spells and countered his attack easily. She pointed her wand at him and he barely avoided her next attack which caused an inkwell nearby to explode. They could have fought for hours if Madam Pince didn’t appear from behind the shelved.

“What are you two depraved idiots doing here ? Twenty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin ! Now, you two ! Out of my sight, now ! 

Hermione exclaimed with rage and packed her stuffs, pushing Malfoy while leaving as he refrained from casting a spell while she wasn’t looking. But he couldn’t: the image of Katie Bell’s livid face was still dacing before his eyes.

It’s not your fault, he kept repeating himself. After all, this silly girl shouldn’t have touched the necklace. It’s her fault.

But he was still feeling sick.

.

.

.

“Well, you asked for it” Nott said absent-mindedly, spinning his wand while reading his spell book. “Don’t say we didn’t warn you”. 

But Malfoy couldn’t care less about Hermione Granger’s whims. It’s been days, weeks since he was trying to repair that cabinet. He tried every spells his father and Yaxley suggested, but none of them was working. He was used to dark magic and thought it would be easy, but the Cabinet was resisting him. He couldn’t even repair the door Montague broke last year, when he got stuck. And now the necklace nearly killed someone. He knew he was on the list of suspects somehow.

“By the way, why aren’t you at the stadium ? Vaisey did tell you the Quidditch tryouts were today, right ?”

“Quidditch… as if I had time to waste on that”, the prefect said.

But deep down, he was disappointed. He loved Quidditch, and like many things this year, he had to sacrifice it for his mission.

“Really, you don’t have to actually try, just show your face and you’ll get it”, Nott told him, while enchanting the pencil box of a first year and sneering as he tried to run after it with little cries similar to a leprechaun

“And since when do you miss on players getting spanked by Bludgers ?”

Crabbe and Goyle appeared in the Common Room as Zabini walked out of the dorm xearing his Quidditch robe.

“Granger is looking for you”, Crabbe and Goyle said. “She’s this close to come in the Common Room”.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. He had just no privacy, now. He stood up and rushed to the dorm, while Zabini and Nott looked at him with confusion.

“Erm… you know according to _Hogwarts: A History_ , as a prefect, she can go to the boy’s dorm, right ? Nott shouted at him. You’re not safe in there, Draco ! Run for your life !

“At least one of us read it” Zabini commented. But anyway, don’t think we’d let a Mudblood come here.

A few minutes later, Malfoy came downstairs with his Quidditch robe and his broomstick. He crossed the stone wall and came face to face with Hermione, waiting for him with her back on the wall.

“You were supposed to send me your report !” she exclaimed when she saw him.

He walked past her and retorted: “Sorry Granger, I have a life aside from class. Quidditch tryouts”.

Hermione frowned. He was messing with her ? He had no idea how stubborn she could be. “Fine, I’m going with you, then”, she retorted.

Malfoy turned around abruptly and forced her to stop before bumping into him.

“No way”, he replied. “It’s a private thing, other houses are not allowed to participate”.

“Well your little friends from Slytherin didn’t hesitate to come for Gryffindor’s tryouts. Don’t think you’ll get away with it so easily, Malfoy. I’ll ruin every single moment of your life I can until you decide to take this contest seriously.

And she pushed him as she walked out of the dungeons. Malfoy pulled out his wand but couldn’t stun her as Ernie McMillan and his friends were coming out of their potion class.

Filthy little Mudblood.

As he arrived on the Quidditch stadium, he realized with satisfaction that Granger’s presence was far from approved. Parkinson was mocking her from the other side of the stadium.

“Hey Granger ! Careful, we could mistake you with the Quaffle with that hair of yours !”

Malfoy got on his broom and took off. The feeling of the wind in his hair made him feel light and free and he couldn’t resist going as fast as he could and doing a backflip. It was so good he felt all his worries fading away.

“Ohey, Draco ! It’s not a show, here” Urquhart shouted. “Chasers ! Go back in position, now !”

After half an hour, the captain picked Zabini and Vaisey as the two other Chasers. The Golden Snitch was released and Hermione raised her head from her book to check if Malfoy was more talented than Harry. When he glanced at her, she had a condescending look he didn’t like at all, just so he knew what she was thinking.

“Think Potter is better than me, Granger ?” he muttered for himself. “Watch this.”.

He raced to the ground, extending his arm as if to catch the Golden Snitch. Harper, the other Slytherin trying out for Seeker position followed him as fast as he could. Everyone gasped and Hermione frowned. She couldn’t see the Golden Snitch…could it mean that ?

Malfoy pulled out a dive at the last minute as Harper, surprised by this sudden change of position, crashed on the ground.

“Good play, Draco !” Zabini mocked, while watching Harper getting up with a broken nose.

“Malfoy, you’re the Seeker”, Urquhart decided. “Beaters, come on !”

The Slytherin went to the bleachers where Granger was and saw her rolling her eyes before shaking her head. He came near her and said with arrogance: “As you can see, I’m way better than Potter”.

“Winning by default because of that Wanky Faint thing ?” Hermione retorted with sarcasm. “Huge win, congratulations !”

“Wronski Feint”, Malfoy corrected her, upset. “And don’t insult me, it’s a tactic used by the best”.

“Yeah, sure, whatever”, the Gryffindor sighed, putting a book between them so he would take it.

She packed her things and was getting ready to leave when the prefect of Slytherin said:

“Yeah, I could have Confunded Harper, it would have been more efficient”

Hermione abruptly turned to him. “I…What did you…?” she stammered, her cheeks turning pink.

“You heard me. At least I’m playing by the rules”.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, Hermione declared without conviction.

Malfoy sneered. “Ha ! And after that, we’ll say Gryffindors are better than us. Weasley definitely deserved his Keeper spot.”

“Don’t talk like that about Ron”, Hermione warned him.

“Oh, that’s right ! Weasel was so scared he pooped his pants and now Little Miss Perfect Granger had to come to his rescue !”

He pulled out his wand as soon as he saw Hermione drawing out hers, but before they could do anything, a familiar sound was heard.

“Look out !” someone shouted.

Crabbe, during Beater’s tryouts, decided to hit the Bludger towards them. The two prefect reacted within a second: Malfoy jumped out of its reach and Hermione pointed her wand at the Bludger.

The nonverbal spell was so powerful the Bludger went straight back hitting Crabbe in the stomach, which made him fall from his broomstick. Hermione gasped in surprise as Malfoy watched his friend hitting his head against one of the goal before falling on the ground.

“What’s that Mudblood doing here ? Kick her out of here !” Vaisey shouted.

“She’s trying to sabotage Slytherin !” Parkinson accused her.

Hermione turned to Malfoy, and stammered an apology: “I…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…Really, it was an accident !”

Malfoy taped his prefect badge pinned on his Quidditch robe and said in a warning tone: “Fifty points from Gryffindor, Granger. Now, get out of here before I tell Snape to come for you”

Hermione needed not to be told twice and grabbed her things before rushing out of the stadium. Blaise came flying near Malfoy.

“You know, if you don’t want to end up like this Bludger, I’d advise you to keep your distances from the Mudblood”, he said. “After all, it’s not the first time you two end up fighting, right ?”

Malfoy grabbed the Quaffle his friends was holding and threw it on the field with rage. He rolled with eyes, refraining from casting a spell to someone.

“Fine”, he muttered. “All I need to do is pretending I work, anyway”

.

.

.

“Why can’t Binns be more specific when talking about trolls and dwarves ?” Ginny mumbled.

She was so annoyed she nearly drowned her notes in her soup. Hermione stopped her and put the notes aside.

“I have my old notes from the O.W.L exams. If you want, I could get them for you”

“You never lent us your notes”, Ron protested.

Hermione gave him a disapproving look when suddenly, a huge pile of books was dropped near her, causing her to jump in surprise.

“Read this”, Malfoy said coldly before returning to the Slytherin table.

All looked at Hermione with surprise as she sighed.

“Guess I won’t get rid of him anytime soon”.


	4. Chapter 4

October went by pretty fast, letting a rainy and sad November. Malfoy didn’t really get anywhere with the Vanishing Cabinet or his other projects. Since Katie’s episode, he was hesitating on reaching a new decisive phase of his plan.

Fortunately, his working sessions with Hermione Granger were short. They were barely talking and she didn’t hold back in showing him how she truly was an insufferable Know-It-All, to the point where he seriously wondered if Potter and Weasley were under the influence of a spell just to put up with her.

“You’re gonna do what ?” Zabini said.

“A murder”, Malfoy replied.

He wasn’t really cautious about being heard, because the greenhouse was so noisy they would barely hear themselves or even Professor Sprout’s instructions.

“Hopefully, I could get away with Granger’s murder”, he said.

“For a second, I thought you really had to kill someone”, Zabined sighed in relief. “Don’t scare me like that !”.

Malfoy paled and quickly changed the subject before his thoughts strayed anywhere near Katie Bell.

“So, what about the Slug Club ?” he asked.

“Well, nothing much. Slughorn worships McLaggen like a god”

“McLaggen ? That retarted ?” Malfoy said, outraged. Pur-Bloods really don’t care about their status. They just socialize with anyone.

“More than you know, that idiot didn’t stop flirting with Granger”.

“Good”, Malfoy mumbled. “Maybe she’ll stop bothering me if she has to spend time with…”

 _“Quite enough chat over here!”_ said Professor Sprout briskly _. “You’re lagging behind, everybody else has started, and Neville’s already got his first pod!”_

She was speaking to Potter, Weasley and Granger who were chatting near them. Goyle took a pair of secateurs and stabbed the gnarled Snargaluff stump standing in the middle. As a response, one of the vines slapped him.

“Use strength, not violence”, Professor Sprout warned them.

Nott plunged his hand in the hole, which closed on his elbow while Crabbe was trying to help Goyle who was getting bullied by the plant. Malfoy was turning the pages of his book when he overheard Weasley and Granger’s conversation.

 _“‘Slug Club,’”_ said Ron _. “It’s pathetic. Well, I hope you enjoy your party. Why don’t you try hooking up with McLaggen, then Slughorn can make you King and Queen Slug —”_

“I got one !” Nott exclaimed, snatching his arm free.

 _“We’re allowed to bring guests,”_ said Hermione, who for some reason had turned a bright, boiling scarlet, _“and I was going to ask you to come, but if you think it’s that stupid then I won’t bother!”_

Zabini and Malfoy glanced at each other before bursting out laughing in the bowl they were supposed to use to harvest tubers. Hearing Granger and Weasel’s loving trials was just pathetic.

“Thanks for helping me, guys”, Nott said while trying to burst the pod open with his pair of secateurs.

“Blood traitors can sink lower, apparently”, Malfoy commented with a superior tone.

“How are you different ?” Nott asked with anger, focused on opeining the pod, “you’re teaming up with a Mudblood for the potion project”.

The Slytherin prefect was taken aback by this remark and stared coldly at his friend who wasn’t even looking at him. How could he be so judgemental when he had no clue of what he had to endure everyday ?

“Any idea on how to make her more compliant ?” Zabini asked Malfoy.

He shook his head, but as he heard the rest of the conversation between Granger and Weasel…

 _“You were going to ask me?”_ asked Ron, in a completely different voice.

 _“Yes,”_ said Hermione angrily. _“But obviously if you’d rather I hooked up with McLaggen…”_

…it finally clicked.

“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s a bad idea”, Zabini warned him.

“Mind your own business”, Malfoy replied, “Ah…I don’t have time for this anyway. Crabbe, Goyle, I need you to keep watch again”

The two friends let out an annoyed grunt he ignored.

.

.

.

“ Just drop it, Granger’, Malfoy sighed, leaning against the back of his chair.

They had just found seventy-eight different ingredients in the potion.

“Some are surfacing only after some time” Hermione replied, more for herself than for him, “if we found Bubotuber pus, it might be for a beauty potion…”

Malfoy sneered. “Yes, I remember you were sensational the day you had your hands full of pus”.

Hermione sighed. “I’ll have you know that many venoms are used in alcohols and for antidotes. Sometimes to succeed in magic, you have to do the opposite”.

She wrote some interesting footnotes in her report when she realized Malfoy was staring at her absent-mindedly, meditating on what she just said.

“What now ?” she said, on the defensive.

“You mean, that… sometimes the opposite can work ?” he asked.

Hermione blinked in surprise. It was unexpected to have the prefect of Slytherin giving her his full attention.

“Well”, she replied, “it’s not always the case of course, but we had many experiences in magic where it proved to be very efficient”.

Malfoy had an empty gaze and Hermione just kept on writing her report until he interrupted her once again: “Let’s take a poison, for example. So you’re saying in some cases, sometimes drinking a poison would be okay ?”

Hermione was shocked. A Malfoy who wasn’t insulting her or looking at her with disgust was more terrifying than an army of trolls. ‘I…Malfoy, what…?’.

“You said sometimes doing the opposite of what you’re supposed to do in magic was the right way. Can you explain it ?”

In his eagerness to learn, he had grabbed her sleeves. Both of them lowered their head to look at this pale fingers grasping the fabric before Hermione pulled out hesitantly.

“Well, the Boomslang snake’s venom for example is used in many beverages. For example, Hagrid has the constitution of a giant and he drinks mead particularly strong. The fermentation and toxicity of some beverages he drinks could poison some more vunerable creatures, even humans. Even the Acromantula venom is used in many antidotes, but of course, they are diluted and treated before being poured in the… but you’ve been making potions for six years now, don’t you know that already ?” she added in an inquisitive tone.

But Malfoy wasn’t listening anymore. Granger just gave him exactly what he needed. He stood up suddenly when Hermione caught his arm. “I already told you to stop running away. We have work to do.”

Malfoy freed his arm and was about to run when Hermione got up from her chair as well. “If you leave now, I’ll tell professor Slughorn to break off the team”, she threatened him.

But Malfoy was too lost in his thoughts to listen to her and stormed off.

.

.

.

Malfoy took the fake Galleon out of his pocket and tapped it with his wand to send a message to Madam Rosmerta. Hermione just gave him a great idea, and no doubt that the landlady of the Three Broomsticks would now which beverage would be the best to poison Dumbledore.

Finally, Granger was useful to him. With her knowledge in poisons, her Protean Charm on Fake Galleons, and soon the Felix Felicis she would win for him.

“Are you lost ?” a voice asked outside the Room of Requirements.

The noise of Crabbe’s bottle of toadspawns informed him now wasn’t the time to get out. Malfoy worked on repairing the Cabinet. He was surprised: Granger told him that sometimes, doing the opposite was the right thing to do in magic. It wasn’t such a bad idea: his father told him many times that dark magic was more reactive than white magic, which made it more dangerous and unpredictable. As if it was demonstrating some kind of stubbornness.

Could it be the solution…?

 _“Bombarda_ ”, he said, his wand pointed at the door.

As it was resisting from being destroyed, the door panel put itself back on its hinges and closed itself. Malfoy smiled. Reverse psychology. Although he was surprised to see a magical object being so receptive. Motivated by this little victory, he worked on the Cabinet until he fell asleep and spent the night in the Room of Requirements.

.

.

.

“What the hell were you doing last night ?” Goyle grumbled. “We waited for hours !”

“We almost missed Quidditch practice”, Crabbe added.

“You know Gryffindors have been monopolizing the stadium lately”, Zabini remarked, picking a fruit in the basket to eat.

“So what ? They might need it more than us if they have good old Weasel as their Keeper. This time they might actually deserve the Quidditch cup.” Malfoy mumbled, exhausted but happy about his fruitful night.

His remark made Pansy laugh, but members of the Slytherin team however were not smiling at all. Few of them were still tolerating their Seeker’s behavior as he showed no interest in practice.

Crabbe and Goyle refrained their bitterness and ate their breakfast as Zabini also glanced at him coldly.

At the Gryffindor table, Weasel seemed pale, probably because of the upcoming game and Potter was apparently talking tactics with him and Ginny Weasley. Hermione was sitting not far from them and noticed he was looking in her direction. She gave him a disdainful look before returning to her book.

“Apparently, Granger’s gonna ask Slughorn to continue the project potion on her own ?” Nott said to him.

Malfoy remembered he left her high and dry and rolled his eyes.

“For someone who did EVERYTHING to partner with her, you don’t look very affected”

“Not really”, Malfoy replied, ‘and I’ve been thinking. I think I found a way so she will be at my feet without complaining. As the perfect Mudblood, this is her place anyway.”

After breakfast, he skipped the Defense Against the Dark Arts, certain that Snape would not care anyway and went back to his dorm. He needed to sleep, but also make sure of something.

“It must be somewhere…”, he mumbled for himself, going through his trunk, “Ah, there it is !”

It was the potion Crabbe and Goyle mistakenly stole the first time. A little bottle with that mother-of-pearl sheen potion, which, little dose by little dose, would get Granger to be at his mercy for the rest of the semester.


	5. Chapter 5

“This is a bad idea, Draco”, Zabini warned him, “if Potter and Weasley find out you drugged her, they’re gonna come after you”.

Malefoy was spinning the Amortentia between his fingers.

“I don’t need to make her drink an entire dose”, he replied, “I don’t need her to be in love with me. Just one drop should be enough to make her eager to please me with any favor I would ask. And if I tell her it should stay a secret, she will keep her mouth shut”.

Zabini sighed. He was getting really annoyed at his friend, who cared about nothing but his little secrets plans, while they should be worrying about Quidditch.

“Whatever. I’m getting tired of this, anyway”, he huffed and puffed before going to sit with Vaisey and Urquhart who were discussing about Quidditch tactics.

Malefoy left the Common Roon. He couldn’t meet Granger all day, as she was always running between classes, homework and her common room. As the prefect, he could meet her in the Gryffindor tower, but he knew it would be a very bad idea.

It took him some time before realizing Granger was actually avoiding him. Nonetheless, he averted the disaster the day after as he saw her running to professor Slughorn after lunch.

“Professor !” she called him.

Malefoy pulled out his want and pointed discreetly at Slughorn before Hermione could reach him.

“ _Impero_ ”

Slughorn’s face relaxed and his dull gaze stood upon Hermione as she said “I looked for you everywhere, but they told me you were busy preparing the next Slug Club party. I need to talk to you about…

“I don’t have time for you, Miss Granger”, Slughorn replied absent-mindedly, without even looking at her.

He turned to walk away.

“Please, I really need to talk to you about Malfoy”, Hermione implored, “I can’t work with him anymore, I…”

“I’m sorry but I can’t help you, you will work with him.”, Slughorn retorted. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I must leave.”

“But…”

Slughorn almost ran away from her. Malfoy put away his wand with a smirk and vanished before she could notice him. The Fake Galleon was warming up in his pocket and he was happy to learn that Rosmerta did have a bottle of a Bungbarrel Spiced Mead that would be perfect for it. No one would notice the poison and simply assume it had fermented too much. All he needed to do now what to put the poison in it.

“Hey Draco !”

It was Vaisey.

“We’re having a team meeting after lunch, to discuss the new tactic for the game. You’ll be there, right ?”

“Sorry Vaisey”, Malfoy replied, “I don’t think I can make it for the game”.

He finished his sentence with a sinister cough. Vaisey glanced at him with disapproval: “Are you kidding me ? You’re ditching us just days before the game ?”

“I know, but I really can’t”, Malfoy coughed again and tapped his chest, “Tell Urquhart to pick Harper to replace me, he’ll be great. I really need to go, now.”

“What ? No, you’re telling Urquhart ! He’s gonna kill me if I tell him”.

But Malfoy didn’t even bother looking back. Vaisey clenched his fists and cursed. What a selfish brat ! Urquhart should never have let him join the team ! Worst of all, he was dragging Crabbe and Goyle in his mess. He needed to have a serious talk about Malfoy with the team captain.

.

.

.

As expected, Hermione was standing at the end on a bookshelf, near the window so she could enjoy the daylight. She was deciphering some ancient runic scriptures when someone put an old green book on top on the one open before her.

“What are you doing here, Malfoy ?” she asked with a defiant voice, “I thought I made myself clear last time”.

“I went to get you this book”, he lied, “I’ve been thinking about it and I think it will be the solution to all our problems”.

Hermione shoved it in his chest.

“It will help you, then, Malfoy. I don’t want to work with you anymore. Everytime we meet, we’re either kicked out of the library or we’re fighting. I’m getting tired of this, I can’t be on the defensive everytime. So we’re done.”

She was about to leave when the Slytherin blocked the way.

“At least, take a look at the book”, he insisted.

“I said no”, Hermione persisted, “I’m going to see Slughorn and insist so we’ll go our separate ways.”

“Alright, alright, you win”, Malfoy surrendered, raising both his hands.

The young woman raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’m glad you finally get it…”, she said.

“But at least, let me make amends”, Malfoy pleaded, showing her the book.

Hermione was suspicious. Malfoy ? Make amends ? Those words didn’t fit him. But Malfoy knew the bookworm she was wouldn’t resist longer.

“Fine, give me the bloody book”, Hermione mumbled. She opened it and went on “Anyway, I don’t know why we keep searching for ingredients at this point. There was already more than one hundred in the sample Slughorn gave us”

Some pages were stuck and she mechanically wet her finger to turn them. “We should be starting to classify the ingredients, anyway. I don’t see what’s so interesting in this book”. It smelled like new parchment, despite being relatively old. “That’s strange, it looks more like a herbology book… wait isn’t it the one that was on the list for the second years ?”. What was more strange was that smell of freshly mown grass, while the window overlooking the park was closed by order or Madam Pince.

She didn’t notice Malfoy staying silent as he slowly watched her losing her grip on reality. One of the rare advantages of being with Granger was to notice all the little habits she had when she was studying. Like wetting her finger to turn the pages.

Hermione turned pale and she dropped the book. She looked sick.

“Good”, Malfoy said with a satisfied smile, “now that the potion finally did its job, I’m gonna need you to help me, Granger. You don’t want me to be sad, do you ?”.

When she looked up to him, she beamed at him and smiled, as if his presence only gave meaning to her life.

“So, since you have everything here, you just have to come up with the potion we need”, Malfoy ordered. “And if someone comes, don’t tell him anything about me, you understand ? Nothing. Just work here and wait for me.”

He didn’t know if what he said made sense to her, but Hermione was just hanging on to his every word. Malfoy was about to go, when he remembered something: “ Oh, and if you’re feeling you’re losing interest…”

He put the Amortentia vial in her hand. “Drink this. It’s an order”.

Hermione nodded and watched him leaving the library, as if he was the prince she always awaited.

.

.

.

“Thank you for ditching us !” Zabini exclaimed while noticing him reading in the common room.

Malfoy was reading _Magick Moste Evil_ and coughed in an exaggerated manner. He had just read some interesting things that would help him repair the Vanishing Cabinet.

“With you gone and Vaisey up to the hospital wing, we’re not really a big threat, now”, the chaser sighed while dropping in the sofa next to Malfoy.

“Vaisey is sick ?”, Malfoy said mechanically.

“Took a Bludger right in the head…”

Malfoy turned a page without replying. Zabini scoffed, baffled at his attitude.

“You know what ? I don’t know what’s up with you, but it’s not even funny anymore !” he called out.

“What are you saying ?”

“With Vaisey out of the competition and you pretending to have some grown-up problems…”

“What is wrong with you ?” Malfoy retorted.

“ You’re a selfish brat, Draco !” Zabini shouted, standing up. “I wouldn’t give a shit if it was just an act for those bloody Gryffindors, but now you’re penalizing the whole team !”

The prefect of Slytherin raised his eyebrows. He couldn’t understand why Zabini was so worked up about. His decisions were always respected no matter what, there was no point in discussing them.

“It’s just Quidditch, Zabini”, he replied, “And it’s one match. Just chill.”

Furious, the chaser went up to the dorm. Malfoy shrugged with a sigh. Why did he have to deal with everyone’s outburst these days ? The stonewall revolved and Pansy appeared, laughing out loud with Milicent Bulstrode.

“Draco ! Draco ! You must go see the show !” she cackled with a grin.

“What now ?”

“The Mudblood Granger is fighting with Peeves because he kicked her out of the library with Madam Pince”.

Malfoy’s heart skipped a beat and he felt shivers.

“The library ? At this hour ?”

“With Peeves !” Pansy added, “Apparently, he tried to steal some… love letters she wrote or something. Might be just homework, but it was hilarious !”

Malfoy needed no more to storm off the Common Room.

“Hey, it’s no use now !” Pansy called out, “It’s over !”

“I told you he wouldn’t want to miss it”, Milicent commented.


	6. Fresh Pine

Malfoy leaped up the stairs to the fourth floor. He was hoping no one had witnessed this, or he’d be in trouble. He probably shouldn’t have left Hermione by herself. The corridor was deserted, but some paintings were strewed over the floor. And there was one familiar silhouette curled up on the floor. When he got closer, she recognized him.

“Draco !”

Hermione threw herself in his arms.

“You came back for me… I knew you loved me. I knew you wouldn’t forget me.”

Draco struggled to break free and noticed she spilled her work all over the floor. Her pencil box, her books, her parchments were smeared with ink and she had broke all her quills by dint of scribbling his name everywhere. Draco, Draco, Draco…

“But…But what happened here ?” he stammered, bewildered.

Hermione wasn’t letting go of him. “You told me to wait for you, so I did.”

“I told you to work, you idiot !” he exclaimed.

“Why would I do that ? I don’t need to work if you’re here for me. You’re my whole world, Draco.”

She kissed him eagerly to make her point, but he abruptly pushed her away. “Don’t touch me, you filthy Mudblood”.

He wiped his mouth with rage, as if he had been soiled. “This is not what I had in mind”, he mumbled for himself.

“Draco”. Hermione tried to get close to him once again but he drew his wand and pointed it at her. “If you come close to me again, I’ll kill you.”.

Hermione’s radiant smile faded in a second and Malfoy saw her eyes filled with tears. “Are…Are you saying that…you don’t love me ?” she weeped.

“Oh course not !”, he ranted, “how could I ever love a Mudblood like you ? It’s time you know your place.”

But Hermione didn’t seem to understand this rambling about Pureblood and Mudblood. Sniffling, she took Malfoy’s hand to point his wand against her heart. “In that case”, she gasped, “I don’t have any reason left to live. Please kill me… for I am nothing without you, Draco”.

The prefect of Slytherin glared at her in shock. “What are you…?”

Tears were now falling down Hermione’s cheeks who said in a dramatic tone: “I will love you forever, Draco Malfoy”.

And, closing her eyes, she uttered: “Avada Ked…”.

“SHUT UP !” Malefoy yelled, snatching his arm free and throwing his wand on the floor.

His scream was probably heard by the whole school, but by miracle, the corridor was still deserted, aside from the ghost of a troubadour who quickly disappeared in the wall. Malefoy was gasping for breath as he now fully realized what professor Slughorn said that day about the Amortentia.

“ _Amortentia doesn’t really create love, of course. It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love. No, this will simply cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. It is probably the most dangerous and powerful potion in this room_.”

“What have I done ?” Malfoy murmured as Hermione fell down on her knees and curl up to cry.

He thought Granger would be his slave by now, but it was the complete opposite that happened: he lost control over her. She was reckless, crazy and so obsessed with him that only his judgement and his words mattered now. Nothing else.

“I want to die, NOW”, Hermione bawled on the floor, “Please, someone kill me !”.

He needed an antidote, NOW. “Granger”, Malfoy said, kneeling down to be at her height, “I want you to wait for me, do you understand ? You don’t talk to anybody, you don’t say ANYTHING, okay ?”

Nothing indicated if she heard him or not. Malefoy picked his wand and flicked it so all of Hermione’s stuff would be put in order and no longer scattered in the corridor. No need for anyone to read all the love letters she wrote to him. He then ran to the dungeons and went to their classroom.

A loud snore informed him that Slughorn had probably fell asleep in his office after drinking one too many. Good enough, Malfoy thought, as he rushed to light the cauldron.

.

.

.

Those were the fifteen longest minutes of his life. His antidote for love potions didn’t have the old rose shade the book mentioned, but as least it was pink. Malfoy filled a bottle and ran to the fourth floor as quickly as he could manage. But much to his horror, Granger wasn’t there anymore. Only her bag was left.

“Shit !”, he cursed.

“Ho ! Ho ! Ho ! ”. Malfoy turned around and spotted the ghost of a pirate who usually wandered near Firenze’s divination class. “ Fancy a duel, young lad ?” he asked, drawing out his sword.

“The girl who was just here, where did she go ?” Malfoy retorted.

“Ha ! You must be the ‘the heartbreaker’ she was talking about ! The poor girl was so distressed she was looking for a way to die. I could only suggest her my way”, the pirate said, proudly pointing at himself.

Malfoy felt cold shivers. “What ?” he yelped, “What do you mean ? Where did she go ?”.

“My boy, I was killed when my brother Dawson held my head under the water. It took me thirty minutes to die ! And with no Bubble-Head Charm, might I add…”

“Shut up !”, Malfoy barked. “Where is Granger ?”

“The poor lady went upstairs a few minutes ago… but going back to Dawson…”

Malfoy didn’t wait for more and rushed to the fifth floor. But there was no one there either. He stopped next to the statue of Boris the Bewildered, in front of a door he knew very well. The prefect’s bathroom. If the prefect said he died drowing, the nit meant…

“Oh no...Spring Flavour !” Malfoy said in panic.

The door opened and he went inside only to find himself in the middle of colored clouds and bubbles.

“Granger !” he called, raising his voice to cover the noise of the water running from all the taps around the pool.

He just had the time to see her bushy brown hairs before she dived in the pool fully-clothed. Malfoy jumped as well and grabbed her by the elbow, forcing her to keep her head above the water. “You stupid Mudblood”, he shouted with anger. “I told you to wait for me !”

“You don’t love me, I don’t want to live anymore”, Hermione whimpered, “Every second is too painful !”.

She pulled out her wand but Malfoy wrestled it out of her grip and threw it into the water. Hermione didn’t let this stop her from diving her head to get it back. In other circumstances, Malfoy would have mocked her and her pathetic attitude, but since he heard her nearly casting the Killing Curse, he wasn’t in the mood for laughing. Hermione was struggling to break free from him and he understood he had to use his cunning to tame her.

“Okay fine !”, he lied to her, “I don’t hate you”.

Hermione stopped moving and looked at him, bewildered with hope. “Really ?” she asked.

Malfoy sighed and took it upon himself. “Yes.”

Hermione threw herself at him for a passionate kiss. They were both soaking wet and still in the pool. The coloured ball-size bubbles and the shiny steam gave the whole scene a feel of surreal. Hermione’s embrace was just getting tighter and she deepened the kiss when Malfoy began to struggle. But he remembered the last time he did that, she tried to kill herself. He forced himself to push her away gently.

“Well now, I want you to drink this”, he said, refraining the need to wipe his lips and rinse his mouth.

He handed her the bottle of antidote. “What is this ?”, Hermione asked.

“Just drink it !” Malfoy was getting impatient.

But much to his dismay, Hermione shook her head and crossed her arms. “I’m not dressed to honour you, Draco”, she whined, “how can I accept anything from you when I’m in this state ?”.

He could have killed her right now… shake her like a house-elf or curse her. Hermione put her hands around his waist and pulled him closer to her. “Do you really love me ?”

He grabbed her by the shoulders, are she was swaying. “I will love you if you drink this”, he bargained.

Hermione promptly snatched away the bottle from his hands and gulped the antidote. Malfoy held her by the elbow in case she’d want to explore the bottom of the pool once again. Hermione had a large smile on her face for a few seconds, then her expression faded away and left a horrified expression.

“It’s about time, Granger”, Malfoy let her go. He was making his way out of the pool when he heard behind him:

“ _I’m going to kill you, Draco Malfoy_ ”.

Hermione didn’t have this cute and high-pitched voice anymore, and the cold and dark tone sent shivers down his spine. She ran to him and hit every part of his body she could manage to reach. “You…bloody…little….I’m going to kill you !”

“Ow ! Ouch ! Stop it ! How dare you ? ”

“How dare _I_ ? ” Hermione shouted. “Are you hearing yourself ? Have you ANY idea what I went through for the last hours because of you ?”

“I saved your life”, Malfoy said, trying to hold her wrists so she couldn’t hit him.

“After drugging me with a love potion ! Amortentia ? Are you crazy ?!”

“I didn’t know – ow ! – it would do this !”

Hermione freed herself abruptly. Her eyes were filled with rage and she looked like a harpy in the middle of the silver mist.

“’The most powerful love potion in the world’, Malfoy ! It creates an obsession ! If you ever took the time to listen to Slughorn, you would never have…” She seemed to realize something and went on “Oh my God ! What did I do, while I was going crazy ? Did I ruin my essays ? Got expelled from the library ? Got a detention ? I swear to you Madam Pomfrey won’t be able to get you back on your feet when I’m done with you !”

She went to slap him but he grabbed her hand. “Okay fine !”, he capitulated, “I shouldn’t have done this it was stupid. Let’s forget about this, now, and…”

“DON’T tell me what to do, Draco Malfoy !” she shouted, pointing a finger at him.

It was worse than the time she punched him in the face. She plunged her hand in her pocket when… “Where’s my wand ?” she asked.

She glared at him with an accusatory look and he felt she would start screaming again if he didn’t reply in the next five seconds. “I had to get rid of it, you were going to kill yourself with it.”

“And now I’m going to kill _you_ with it ! Give it back now ! I swear to you if anything happened to…”

Malfoy couldn’t take it anymore. “ _Silencio_ !”, he said, pointing at her with his wand.

Hermione became mute in an instant and she looked at him in shock, baffled he had the nerves to do this after everything he put her through.

“I hope you’ll listen to me now”, Malfoy retorted.

As a response, Hermione slapped him across the face. Malfoy didn’t stagger this time. He sighed with frustration but grabbed both of her hands so she wouldn’t hit him again. “Okay, I never should have given you this potion”.

Hermione silently formed the words: “You think ?”

He tightened his grip when he realized she was trying to pull away. He tried to lie again “I thought it was a tonic for your nerves !”

A kick in the shin made him understand she wasn’t believing him.

“Okay, I messed up, but the truth is, I really want to win this competition. But I know I’m not good enough.”

Hermione was still trying to break free but Malfoy felt she was doing it less convincingly, a sign that she was actually listening. So he went on: “ I’m taking this seriously, but it’s not easy when you’re always finding an excuse to go find Slughorn to break us up. Deep down, you’re trying to sabotage me”.

Hermione finally pushed him away and turned his back on him, sulking. Malfoy sighed in relief: none of his arguments could excuse what he did, but at least, she stopped hitting him. He tried to forget he was supposed to plan how to put the poison in the mead and now he was in a whirlpool bath with Granger. He flicked his wand and Hermione said coldly: “Don’t think this excuse anything you just did.”

“ Then stop leaving me out all the time”

“You’re the one who keeps bailing on me! You’re the one who should be taking this seriously.”

“I am !”

“Yeah ! By drugging me so I’d do all the job ! And really, that’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard of, and I’m hanging out with Ron, I’ll have you know”

She realized what she said and who she said it to too late. Malfoy knew now wasn’t the time to be mean, so he seized this as an opportunity. “Well, that puts us in the same boat, then Granger”.

She glanced at him coldly. “Give me my wand back”.

“No way”

“If you want us to start over, you better give it back”

“And how do I know you’re not going to Stupefy me once you have it ?”

“I would love to give you my word, but what’s a Mudblood’s promise worth for you ?”

The prefect of Slytherin was taken aback. It was the first time he ever heard this word in Granger’s mouth. Did it sound this offensive when he said it ? Hermione swayed a bit and shook her head, feeling dull.

“What now ?” Malfoy sighed.

“The antidote isn’t efficient enough. I still feel sick”

Malfoy was about to shout at her again when they both heard the door opening. They glanced at each other with horror: no way someone will find them here. They took advantage of the water running to hide behind one of the columns. Through the mist, Urquhart, Slytherin team captain, was standing in his bath robe, with his toiletries in one hand and his wand on the other. One flick and all the taps turned off, and the whole bathroom went in a silence only the bubbles popping would break.

“Oh no…” Hermione whispered.

She turned her head when Urquhart took off his bathrobe to go in the water. Her nose against Malfoy’s shoulder made her realize he was shivering in a strange way ; when she raised her head, she realized he was refraining a sneeze.

“No, No !” she whispered, shaking her head.

She didn’t have her wand, so she had no other choice but pinch his nose so he wouldn’t sneeze, causing him to give her a death glare. She raised an eyebrow and let him go, turning away when she heard Urquhart diving in the pool. Malfoy wiped his face and squint his eyes to peer through the mist. When Urquhart went swimming next to them, Hermione and Malfoy flatten themselves against the white marble of the column and glanced at each other.

“What ?” Malfoy asked silently when he noticed she was looking at his lips.

Hermione blinked and shook her head: “If that’s your talent for potions, there’s no way we’ll win the competition ! The effects of the Amortentia hadn’t disappeared completely.

“The effect is immediate, you idiot”, Malfoy retorted.

“Not if I believe the color of your potion, Hermione whispered, feeling a bit dizzy and hot, it clearly lacked some lacewing flies. If you don’t put enough of them, the effects won’t be permanent…

“Don’t make me laugh, Granger. My potion was perfect, the fragrance is going to your head, that’s all.”

Hermione didn’t have the luxury to reply, because Urquhart was swimming laps, forcing them to move around the column. She was trying her best not to look at him, but she couldn’t look at Malfoy either, since she still felt a bit dazzled by his presence. She didn’t have the choice: they’d never get out of here and sooner or later, Urquhart would notice them. She cursed herself for even thinking about it, but at least, Harry and Ron weren’t there to witness her doing the unthinkable: she grabbed Malfoy’s wrist and despite the fact he showed a little resisted, pointed it at the other Slytherin swimming. “ _Assurdiato_ ”, she mentally said.

Bloody Prince… but no one would ever know it, and at least, now they were able to get out of the pool without being heard, the fumes hiding them already. Hermione nodded her head at Malfoy and they both got out of the pool and reached the entrance. They were both set on opening the door when Urquhart had reached the end of the pool when they heard him talking to himself: “What the… ? Thought I left you on the edge.”

Hermione’s eyes widened when she realized he had her wand. Immediately she glared at Malfoy and signed him with frenetic gestures: “Give me back my wand”, she ordered silently, pointing at the bath.

“ _Aguamenti_ ”, Urquhart claimed, still in his pool.

Malfoy and Hermione glanced at each other with horror. They knew perfectly what happens when you use a wand that is not made for you. Urquhart’s scream and the foamy multi-colored tidal wave made Hermione let out a surprise gasp. Malfoy opened the door, grabbed Hermione and dragged her outside. They both used their strength to slam the door shut before flooding the whole corridor.

“You’re completely sick !”, Hermione was out of breath, “You threw my wand in the pool !”

“Can we talk about this later ?”

“No ! You better…”

“I don’t think we have a choice, here”.

Hermione realized he was staring at something on the floor behind her. She turned and felt shivers: right there, as she’d been magically attracted here, was Mrs Norris, her yellow eyes glaring at them. And if she was here, it meant Filch wasn’t far. His shadow was already visible at the end of the corridor.

“ Bloody Squib”, Malfoy muttered. He was still holding Hermione and forced her to run in the opposite direction.

“Hey ! Hold it right here, you two ! ” shouted the Filch’s raspy voice.

But none of the two prefects listened to him. They rushed to the short-cut behind the tapestry and found themselves in a new corridor and ran downstairs, managing to lose Filch since they couldn’t hear him running behind them. They stopped at the second floor by going through the passage behind the statue near Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom to catch their breath. For one minute, they didn’t say anything, focusing on catching their breath. But then, Hermione couldn’t help but letting out a laugh. A nervous laugh, relieved she had escaped a detention or worse, being expelled. The situation wasn’t funny, but she needed to let it out. Malfoy found himself imitating her. His jaw’s muscles were stiffs. It’s been ages since he laughed, a real laughed that shook his entire body and freeing him for the dark thoughts he had accumulated since this summer.

Leaning against the wall, the Slytherin prefect was too late to stop Hermione grabbing him by the shoulder and kissing him. A tender kiss, not like the desperate ones she gave him when she was totally under the influence of the potion. The passage where they hid was so narrow that their bodies glued to one another was a smothering experience already. And they were soaking wet and starting to get cold. Yet, that kiss only lasted a second, before Hermione pulled back with an upset gasp. “I’m going to have to make another antidote to completely annihilate the effects”, she noted with a disgusted look.

“Who better than Perfect-Mudblood-Granger to do it, eh ?”

But it wasn’t his goal to insult her this time, as his tone was mechanical and not cruel. He realized he completely forgot to push her away, now that she wasn’t under the influence of the love potion.

“Oh, don’t underestimate yourself”, Hermione mocked, “at least it was efficient enough so I could punch you again. And I’m grateful for that”.

He would’ve wanted to punch her too, but she went on: “I’m going to bed before you have the clever idea to poison me this time. And you better get back my wand !”.

Malfoy rolled his eyes when she pointed a menacing finger in his direction before walking away, leaving puddles at each step. He chose to dry up with a wave of his wand and went straight to the dungeons, feeling suddenly he was about to be sick.

.

.

.

Hermione gulped the antidote she prepared hastily, trying not to frown at his bitter taste. She felt devastated, as she should feel. Deep inside, she went to sleep, relieved.

It felt so good being in control of your feelings.

.

.

.

Blaise moaned and opened his eyes. There was something sour in the air and the dorm was filled with a light-pink vapor.

“’s happenin’?”

But no one answered. When he turned his head, he saw Malfoy drinking an old-rose coloured potion.

“Draco, now’s not the time to make potion, what the hell…”, he complained.

He was so tired by Quidditch practice he went back to sleep before Malfoy could even answer. The Slytherin emptied the cauldron with a wave of his wand.

“If you think I had a choice”, he mumbled.

He gulped the rest of his drink and went back to sleep. Surely, the Mudblood Granger gave him a taste of Amortentia one way or another, because he was feeling sick since she kissed him – or more exactly since she pounced on him like a harpy. Which forced him to take an antidote himself.

Fortunately, he just needed to wait and the antidote would have worked by tomorrow. And everything would be back to normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think of Hermione under the influence of Amortentia ? Usually people could just expect Malfoy to jus tabuse her, but I thought it was funny to make her just uncontrollable ;)


	7. First symptoms

Hermione was walking with Harry and Ron and Ginny to the stadium. She was outraged and couldn’t believe her best friend would go as far as cheating to win this stupid match.

“ _And guess what?_ Ginny said. _That Slytherin Chaser Vaisey — he took a Bludger in the head yesterday during their practice, and he’s too sore to play ! And even better than that — Malfoy’s gone off sick too!”_

 _“What?”_ said Harry, wheeling around to stare at her.. “ _He’s ill? What’s wrong with him?”_

Seeing Harry’s expression, Hermione rolled her eyes. She knew very well Malfoy caught a cold after their little misfortune last night. But for some reason, Harry was still believing that fantasy in which Malfoy was a Death Eater plotting something evil for Voldemort.

When she saw Urquhart casting a spell to keep his long hair from falling in his face, Hermione realized Malfoy still didn’t give her wand back. She needed it absolutely for tomorrow’s Charm class. She ran back to the castle, not caring about the match: after all, what was the point watching a game if it was already rigged ?

.

.

.

“ There you go”, Madame Pomfrey said. She handed a bottle of Pepperup Potion to Malfoy. “You should feel better with this. Now, hurry up to the field.”.

Malfoy didn’t bother to thank her and got out of the infirmary. He had to come here to make his fake-sickness believable so Urquhart would stop glaring at him like he was about to kill him, but he wasn’t planning on staying in bed. When he was going downstairs, he bump into Hermione. “What are you doing here ?” he asked in an unfriendly voice. He didn’t have the time or the desire to see her.

“I heard you were sick”, the young woman replied, looking at him from head to toe, “I wanted to see if you were okay since yesterday.”

“Well, you saw. Now get out of my way”, Malfoy abruptly walked past her and shoving her on purpose.

Hermione grabbed his arm. “You were supposed to get me my wand back.”

He broke free and walked away. “I don’t have time for this. Urquhart probably left it in the Common Room and I have other business to attend to.”

Hermione stood before him. “Oh yeah ? Like what ? ”, she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Malfoy frowned. “Mind you own business, Granger”.

“For someone supposedly sick, you look plenty fresh”.

“You’re the one making me sick, Mudblood.”

The Gryffindor glared at him defiantly. “Fine”, she said, looking smug as she stormed off to go down the stairs. Malfoy scratched his chin while watching her. Finally he got rid of her… at least he thought so until he heard her saying right before disappearing at the junction: “The password for you Common Room is still “Salazar”, right ?”.

Malfoy took a few seconds before realizing what it meant: “Are you mental ?” he dashed to catch up with her. “Come back here !”.

Unfortunately for him, the stairs moved magically before he could take it. Hermione had already reached the first floor. “Filthy little Mudblood”, he shouted from the third floor, ignoring the outraged gasps of the ghosts around him, “Get back here !”.

Hermione stopped to look up. “I’m a prefect, Malfoy”, she said with arrogance, tapping her badge, “I have all the rights. And since you can’t even get my wand for me, I have no choice but to get it myself”.

When Malfoy finally got the chance to take the stairs, Hermione was eagerly walking in the entrance hall towards the dungeons. He started to run as fast as he could, hoping that some Slytherin students stayed in the Common Room to stop her from coming in.

Unfortunately, he bitterly remembered Nott had recruited everyone to go sing _Weasley is Our King_ during the game, which meant only the Bloody Baron was left in the common room, not a great threat to Granger. “Salazar”, he heard deep down in the dungeons.

He ran and went in the opening just as the wall was closing. Hermione had just stepped in the common room and looking at the design when he blocked her way. “Get the hell out of here”, he ordrered angrily.

“Give me my wand back and I will”, she retorted.

“I’m warning you, I’m this close to _stupefy_ you.”

“Go on”, Hermione provoked him, “I can’t wait to see you explain this to professor McGonagall”.

Malfoy didn’t want to get more detentions or attention than needed. Hermione dropped herself on Crabbe’s favourite couch and crossed her arms. “Would you mind hurrying up ? The game already started.”

Malfoy pulled out her wand and really considered casting a spell on her. But he didn’t have much time left. He wanted to take advantage that everyone was at the game to make as much noise as he could in the Room of Requirements. “ _Accio, Granger’s wand_ ”, he thought, trying hard not to utter the words “Mudblood” and “twit” in the process.

There was a noise of something breaking and then Hermione saw her wand levitating into their direction. But as she stood up to catch it mid-air, Malfoy was quicker and grabbed it before striding out of the common room.

“Hey ! Where are you going ?” Hermione shouted.

She had to run to follow him. Malfoy walked upstairs to the entrance hall, pushed the heavy oak door and threw Hermione’s wand as far as he could. She ran outside and gasped with surprise. “Are you crazy ? ”, she yelled at him.

“Now we’re even, Granger”, he replied with contempt. “See you in potions”. And he slammed the door in her face. He didn’t want to draw attention on him, but Granger was provoking him again and again. This year, he wasn’t as open with the others as usual, and he usually was freaked out because of this mission. But with that Mudblood constantly harassing him, he found himself turning back to the Malfoy he was before getting the Dark Mark. It was as if two different persons were co-existing in the same body.

.

.

.

“You shouldn’t have done this, Harry !” Hermione said shrilly. “You enchanted Ron’s broomstick and that’s why he was able to save everything.”

“I didn’t do this”, Harry grinned broadly. He pulled out his wand and tapped at the broomstick: “ _Specialis Revelio_ ”. Nothing happened. The broomstick hadn’t been enchanted. Hermione couldn’t believe it.

 _“I wanted Ron to think I’d done it, so I faked it when I knew you were looking_.” He looked at Ron. _“You saved everything because you felt lucky. You did it all yourself.”_

Hermione could feel the blood pulsing in her ears. It was a ruse. A stupid ruse. Ron turned to her and stated to mimic her: “You enchanted Ron’s broomstick and that’s why he was able to save everything. I can save goals without help, Hermione!”.

It was as if a cold hand suddenly squished her heart when he said it this way.

“I never said you couldn’t — Ron, you thought your broomstick was enchanted too!”.

But Ron strode past her without even replying. Hermione felt a lump in her throat as she struggle to not cry.

_“Er,” said Harry into the sudden silence, “shall…shall we go up to the party, then?”_

_“You go!” said Hermione, blinking back tears. “I’m sick of Ron at the moment, I don’t know what I’m supposed to have done…”_

.

.

Malfoy had returned in the Room of Requirement after the match. He hadn’t expected to be back, but as he was about to run to his dorm after the match so he wouldn’t be seen wandering here, a tap at the window made him stop. It was the family owl with a little bundle. He detached it and let the great horned owl flew off to the owlery. Malfoy slowly unfolded the parchment before moving back with disgust: there was a bird foot in it, still covered in dry blood. The message on the parchment had been written with the blood of this poor creature: _He’s getting impatient. Don’t forget your failure will be your last._

There was no signature, but Malfoy knew perfectly there was only one person in his family crazy enough to send him this: last summer he had plenty of time to realize how crazy his aunt Bellatrix was, as well as cruel and sadistic. The Slytherin opened the tiny parcel that was folded with the parchment along with the bird’s foot and found a little bottle containing a silver hair-like wisp: a memory.

Yes, he remembered seeing it somewhere in the Room of Requirements. It was on the other side of the room, somewhere between a pile of broken chairs and old bunk beds.

A old Pensieve.

Malfoy sighed and opened the bottle, pouring the memory in it before putting in head in the Pensieve. He realized to his horror it was a memory he knew. It was this summer.

.

.

“Focus, Draco !” Bellatrix shouted.

The Slytherin prefect looked at himself, sitting on the floor, his head in his hands. He looked pathetic.

“I can’t take it anymore. It’s been hours”. He sounded pathetic.

“You’re just a crybaby”, Bellatrix spat. “It’s time you learn about discipline”.

“No !”, both Malfoy begged in unison.

“ _LEGILIMENS !_ ”

Malfoy had the impression he was reliving the memory itself. All became dark and the floor disappeared under his feet. He fell in the dark until he found himself in front of the Dark Lord himself. Malfoy felt panic taking over his body and tried to distance himself from Lord Voldemort but he was petrified. It was a fake memory, one Bellatrix wanted to put in his head so he’d be scared. It was the first time Malfoy saw Lord Voldemort. And he was terrified. Those red eyes were staring at him with a glint of sadism. Malfoy shivered and tears of terror ran down his cheeks.

“ _Endoloris_!” Bellatrix shouted.

The feeling of pain was so intense Malfoy could even feel it.

“ _Avada Kedavra_!” said Voldemort.

Malfoy screamed with terror and curlep up in a ball, breathing heavily. Bellatrix had sent him a False Memory Charm, not to make him remember the bad moments he spent practicing occlumancy, but instead to scare him. But Malfoy was too freaked out to even think about this. Now, all he could think about was that he couldn’t control his breath anymore and he was going to die.

“Draco, Draco, Draco…”

Her voice was resonating in his head. He closed his eyes and let out a cry. He had to leave _right now_.

Her voice echoed like a nightmare: “He will kill you, Draco… HE WILL KILL YOU IF YOU FAIL HIM”.

.

.

Bellatrix’scream push Malfoy out of the Pensieve. He staggered, still in shock before finally falling on a pile of frames and starting to cry nervously. He could still see Lord Voldemort before him, ready to kill him. One hour passed before he could muster the courage to get up and get out of the Room of Requirements. But he still had that horrified expression on his face.

.

.

.

“ _Oppugno_ !”. Hermione wasn’t a violent nature. But an unprecedented rage had taken over. First, sadness, and the feeling of her heart breaking. But the worst had been Ron. Ron and his relieved expression when she did nothing and said nothing, as if he felt no guilt at all. She didn’t listen to what Harry tried to tell her, and instead stormed off the classroom. She found Lavender waiting in the corridor, who had a look of pity when she saw her. “It’s really unfortunate”, she told her, “but you can only blame yourself, Hermione. Not my Won-Won”.

Hermione wished she could _stupefy_ her but she just couldn’t do it. Lavender was right somehow: she just kissed Ron because she wanted to, and wasn’t to blame because of it. Hermione walked past her, intending to go crying in the restroom, as usual, but couldn’t help but nudge Lavender in the process. “Hey !”, she protested.

Hermione didn’t reply and continued on her walk, vaguely thinking that Malfoy’s bad habits had apparently rubbed off on her.

.

.

.

Malfoy got out of the Room of Requirement, mumbling about the noise coming from the Gryffindor tower. Apparently, they were partying a lot, judging from all the Skyving Snackboxes’ wrappings on the floor of the corridor… and also the footbsteps he heard coming in his direction. The prefect of Slytherin quickly closed the door and turned just as Hermione appeared at the junction. She seemed rather upset and lost in her thoughts, yet she stopped instantly when she saw him. “What are you doing here ?”, she asked abruptly.

Her hair looked scruffy and her red and puffy eyes showed she had been crying. Strange, for someone whose house just won the Quidditch game against Slytherin. But he really couldn’t care less right now. “Nothing”, he retorted. “I’m going”.

“Yeah, sure, whatever”, she said coldly. She was clearly on the verge of tears again.

Some female giggles echoed in the air and Malfoy saw Hermione becoming clearly angry as she clenched her wand so hard her joints were becoming white. She walked past him to get away from the noise. Malfoy looked in the corridor and saw Lavender Brown with Ronald Weasley. He couldn’t help but smirk, feeling less lonely because Granger was also a mess right now. He followed her to go back to the dungeons. The prefect of Gryffindor was turning from time to time and seemed to refrain from talking to him, until she couldn’t take it anymore. “How long are you going to follow me like that ?”, she exclaimed.

“The stairs to the dungeons are this way, Granger”, he bluntly replied.

Strangely, seeing her all sad and desperate was making him feel better. He wished she was devastated, so he’d feel great.

“Then walk past me and leave me alone”, she said.

“And missing the show of you whining like a madwoman about Weasel ?” Malfoy wanted to provoke her.

“Shut up”, Hermione ordered between her teeth, wiping her tears.

But Malfoy could feel alive when he was belittling her. “It seems Confunding Weasley got him a girl, after all. You should feel good to have done such a humanitarian action…”

“I said SHUP UP !”, Hermione shouted, waving her wand at him.

He had anticipated it and avoided the red flash before pulling out his own wand and retaliate. Hermione blocked his spell and responded with a raging gasp. If the Gryffindors hadn’t been so noisy, he was sure the whole the castle would know they were fighting right now.

“ _Oppugno_ !” Hermione screamed.

A flock of birds swooped down on Malfoy who jumped on the side and took advantage that Hermione let down her guard. “ _Everte Statum !”._ Hermione flew back and slammed into the wall before falling. Malfoy waved his wand and all the birds got scared and flew to safety on top a statue. Hermione pointing in wand at him and casted a Trip Jinx, causing Malfoy to fall hard on the floor.

They were sitting on the floor face to face, glancing at each other with hatred. Hermione was the first to look away. She had other things to deal with besides fighting with Malfoy over anything. But for a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, they just stayed there, their backs leaning on the wall, one facing the other. Finally, a few of the birds Hermione summoned landed on their shoulders.

“Ah…Disgusting…”, Malfoy said, frowning at her.

Birds droppings landed on his pants. Hermione sneered at him between her tears until Malfoy waved at her shoulder and she discovered that she had also be taken as a perch. Shaking her head, Hermione cleaned herself and finally got up. For some reason, fighting with Malfoy calmed her and she felt better. Just exhausted. Malfoy stayed a bit longer with the birds, making them disappear with his wand one by one, until he got an idea. He noted an empty birdcage, opened it and put two of Hermione’s birds in it.

As he walked back to his dorm, he felt empty, but for some reason way better than when he got out of the Room of Requirements.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the 6th film, Malfoy uses birds when he's working on repairing the Vanishing Cabinet, I found it was interesting if those were the birds Hermione used to attack Ron. I like that she's been unknowingly helping him in his quest of killing Dumbledore, giving him ideas about the poison, etc.


	8. Paranoia

For once, he was in the library, alone. He just couldn’t read his books about dark magic in the common room. Actually, he couldn’t stand being in the same room than Nott, Zabini, Crabbe, Goyle, or Vaisey…

“Thank you for leaving us high and dry !”, Nott shouted the night he walked in the common room after Slytherin’s defeat.

“Leave him, Theo”, Zabini added, sulking. “Draco only thinks about himself anyway”.

“Just let it go, already, it’s just a stupid game”, Malfoy had said.

That didn’t help him gain their trust back. No one was talking to him now, but things were worse: his friends’ carefree attitude, their jokes were bothering him. He had _real problems_ : even if he could manage to get Rosmerta to send the mead to the castle, Filch would definitely inspect it and find out it was poison. And he wouldn’t accept it.

“The library closes in half an hour”, Madam Pince mechanically said from behind the shelves. Malfoy didn’t reply.

And the other problem, Granger. Even if she was on edge because of Weasley, he couldn’t take her attitude anymore. Actually, maybe that was the worst : not that he was just a shadow of himself, but the fact that Granger was the only person he was talking to the most right now.

And yet, they hated each other. As he was trying to focus on his father’s book _Secrets of the Darkest Arts_ he was carefully hiding underneath _Travel with Trolls_ , he heard a familiar voice.

Granger. She was seemingly talking to Potter.“ _I went into the girl’s bathroom just before I came in here and there were about a dozen girls in there, including that Romilda Vane, trying to decide how to slip you a love potion. They’re all hoping they’re going to get you to take them to Slughorn’s party, and they all seem to have bought Fred and George’s love potions, which I’m afraid to say probably work_ —”

Malfoy rolled his eyes as Potter replied. He would never have peace this year, even though they were probably the only ones left in the library. He closed his book and packed his stuff when he heard Potter saying : “ _The point is, Filch is being fooled isn’t he? These girls are getting stuff into the school disguised as something else! So why couldn’t Malfoy have brought the necklace into the school —?_ ”

The prefect of Slytherin froze when he heard his name. So he was right : Potter was suspecting him. And by extension, Granger probably was too…

_“Oh, Harry…not that again…”_

_“Come on, why not?”_ Harry demanded.

Malfoy was all ears.

“ _Look, Secrecy Sensors detect jinxes, curses, and concealment charms, don’t they? They’re used to find dark magic and dark objects. They’d have picked up a powerful curse, like the one in the necklace, within seconds. But something that’s just been put in the wrong bottle wouldn’t register — anyway Love potions aren’t dark or dangerous_ -”

Malfoy’s face lightened up. This old Squib of Filch was too stupid to identify a poison, there was nothing to fear. He heard Hermione dropped dead, and hastily left before they could hear him

.

.

.

“Alihotsy has a bad reaction to Chinese Fireball’s claws”, Hermione pointed out while crossing out an ingredient written on the parchment. “You should know that by now”.

Malfoy let her. They were in the potion room and finally established the recipe for the antidote. It wasn’t complicated, but it would certainly take weeks before completion. “Some ingredients aren’t in the reserve, so we’re going to need to look for it ourselves.”, Hermione noted.

None of them were looking at each other. They didn’t want to talk about what happened after the Quidditch game. And more importantly, Malfoy just received to confirmation that Rosmerta sent the bottle. He was on edge… what if Filch drank the mead ? Or kept it for himself ? Or showed it to someone else who would notice the poison ?

“ Are we done, here ?” Malfoy asked.

“ I sure hope so”, Hermione replied, more for herself than for him.

Usually, Malfoy would have provoked her. But now, he was nervous. What if Granger was wrong ? She was rarely wrong, but still… he didn’t trust her. What if she told this story about Filch just to appease Potter ? Maybe he just needed to grab a poison here and put it in Dumbledore’s cup during dinner.

“You can go, I’ll handle it from here”, Hermione told him.

Malfoy didn’t need to be told twice. Hermione raised her head when she saw him departing him and noted the flash of a bottle in his hand. “That’s mine”, she said.

Malfoy stopped. Hermione was pointing at the bottle with her quill. “Dragon Poison. I need it for the potion. Slughorn strictly regulated its usage.”. She saw him becoming livid. “Did you need it ? Can I help you with it ?”.

“I took it by mistake”, Malfoy took out the bottle and slammed it on the table. “And I don’t need your help. Why would I want anything from you ?”.

Hermione felt as if it was Ron talking to her. “Yes”, she went back to her notes. “Why would you…”. She blinked and claimed: “I won’t be needing you anymore for the potion. You don’t have to come working with me anymore.”

Malfoy was delighted by the news but also suspicious: “You’re trying to steal my work, Granger ?”.

Hermione had a fake smile. “Why would I want anything from you, Malfoy ?” she mocked him. “You’re a real pain”.

“So are you. I don’t want you to betray me.”

“What’s wrong with you ? You’re being paranoid”

Malfoy realized she was right. For weeks now, he had been suspicious of everybody. Hermione lit up the cauldron to prepare the potion. “If you enjoy keeping an eye on me, knock yourself out”, Hermione said, “but I understand you’ve been quite busy since the beginning of the year”.

She said that mechanically, but it was enough so Malfoy would panic. He remembered the conversation she had with Potter in the library. She was suspecting him. “What do you mean ?” he abruptly said.

Hermione glanced at him. Malfoy was so pale he was probably sick. If she couldn’t sleep because she was thinking about Lavender and Ron, she wondered what kept him alive so he’d have these dark circles around his eyes. Even when she looked at the Slytherin table during lunch and dinner, he was isolated from his friends. “I don’t mean anything”, she replied. “But I might still need your help for some rare ingredients. For the time being, being away from each other will be good”.

Malfoy couldn’t agree more. Even though she was the only one she was talking to on a daily basis. The only one who made him remember he was still a student.

He remembered bitterly he also needed her help to get to the Slug Club now that Blaise wasn’t talking to him anymore. Apparently, they couldn’t keep away from each other for long.

.

.

.

“You want what ?” Hermione repeated in shock.

Malfoy struggled to keep a neutral expression while checking if Madam Pince wasn’t nearby spying on them. “Going to Slughorn’s party”, he said, rolling his eyes, “you’re going, aren’t you ?”.

Hermione took a step closer to check his pupils. “Just how many potions like this are there in Hogwarts ?” she murmured.

“What ?” Malfoy furrowed his eyebrows with confusion.

“Wait, I have what you need”, Hermione said, while rummaging in her bag, “I always have one with me since the day I nearly drowned in a pool thanks to you.”

She pulled out a bottle and handed it to him. “Drink this”, she ordered with confidence.

“What the hell are you talking about, Granger ?” Malfoy was completely baffled.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright, I get it”. She sighed and put her hands on Malfoy’s shoulders. The prefect of Slytherin looked at hands with wide eyes and turned his head towards her as she spoke in a sweet voice: “Draco, I’ll love you even more if you drink this. I promise. Do you think you can make me happy by drinking it ?”.

This time, Malfoy understood and sighed. “I haven’t been drinking a love potion”, he clarified, “I’m serious”.

“Of course, I know you are, Draco”, Hermione went on. “And I do love you. But I’d love you even more if you drank this”.

Her words provoked a feeling of disgust within the Slytherin. She didn’t believe him ? Fine. He grabbed her hands to lift them off his shoulders and was surprised to find them so warm. “Granger”, he told her seriously. “You’re a Mudblood, and I hate you. You’re a Little Miss Know-It-All who thinks she’s better then everyone and yet you’re whining like a baby after that idiot of Weasel. Is that enough or should I keep going ?”. He raised an eyebrow as Hermione blinked and pulled away from him.

“You mean, you’re seriously asking to accompany me to Slughorn’s party ?” she stammered with wide eyes. Malfoy’s sigh served as an answer. “And why do you want us to go together ?”, Hermione asked, frowning.

That was the difficult part. Malfoy had all the reasons in the world not to go with her. “I don’t want to”, he replied, “I just need to tell Slughorn about our potion”.

Hermione raised one eyebrow. “And there need to be two of us to tell Slughorn that because… ?”.

“Because”, Malfoy was getting impatient, “I… I don’t trust you”.

“Well that’s too bad !”, Hermione bitterly said. “Because I’m invited and you’re not. Anyway, I’m not going with you that’s totally...”

She spotted a ginger head and let out a loud giggle that was anything but natural : “Yes, Smith couldn’t stop asking me to the party, but Cormac was the first, so…”.

Malfoy looked at her wide-eyed, as if she had completely lost her mind and followed her gaze. By looking over his shoulder, he saw a tall Hufflepuff guy staring at them with confusion. With ginger hair.

“Shoot”, Hermione mumbled.

She looked away to avoid Malfoy’s look full of pity and judgement. He couldn’t believe it. “Wow… I’d never think you could sink lower, but here you are”, he said with a sarcastic tone.

“Shut up Malfoy”

Maybe this could be an opportunity for him ? “If you want Weasley to get jealous, try to go with someone less pathetic”.

This time, she was the one staring at him with pity and contempt. “Malfoy, if I go with someone like Cormac, Ron will be jealous without a doubt. If I go with you, he’ll just pity me. And he’ll be right.”. He gave her a death stare she ignored. “Anyway, I’m already going with…Cormac”.

Just the thought of it was enough to make her stomach roll. Malfoy couldn’t help but sneer. “And people think you’re the best witch of our time. Pathetic.”.

“And yet here you are, begging me to take you”, Hermione said with arrogance. “If you really want to go to the party, just ask Zabini to… Oh no !”.

She skulked behind Malfoy who took a step back. “What now ?”, he was getting upset.

“Shh ! It’s Cormac !” Hermione whispered.

Malfoy turned around and saw Gryffindor’s substitute Keeper. He looked like he was looking for someone. Granger. When Hermione rose her head, she saw Malfoy’s smirk and reacted imediately.

“Oh no, you don’t ! Stay here !”, she murmured, grabbing the lapel of his robe.

He grabbed her hands. “It’s simple, Granger… You go to the party with me, and I’ll get rid off McLaggen for you”, he whispered.

Hermione pouted. “And here I was worrying about you. You’re a total jerk !”

“Do we have a deal ?” Malfoy asked.

“I told you I couldn’t ! There’s no way I’d go with…”

“Suit yourself”, Malfoy freed himself and said in a much louder voice. “See you, _Granger_!”

McLaggen turned his head towards them and Malfoy walked out of the library with a satisfied look on his face, as he heard Hermione say in a high-pitched voice : “Oh, hi, Cormac…”

And he couldn’t help but laugh.

It was only afterwards he realized he was supposed to convince her to go with him. But he couldn’t help but teasing her. When he was wth her, somehow, there were moments where he’d just forget what situation he was in.


	9. Old Wounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter unfortunately shorter than usual, but that's because I uploaded chapter 8 during the week ^^  
> I might make it up to you guys by uploading a new translated fanfiction ^^

“I thought he was going to fake it, but I knew he was aiming for the right hoop. So I decided to play dumb you see…”

McLaggen was blabbering without even noticing how much Hermione was done with him. They’ve arrived to Slughorn’s party one hour ago and the Gryffindor’s substitute Keeper couldn’t stop talking about himself.

“Impressive”, she commented mechanically.

If that was the price to make Ron jealous, she found it a bit too much.

“Look”, McLaggen told her, pointing at something above them.

Hermione raised her head and felt shivers. It was one of the many sprig of mistletoe Flitwick put everywhere in the castle.

“I wouldn’t mind if you give me my Christmas present in advance”, Cormac whispered to her.

Without even waiting for her reply, he grabbed her and pulled her towards him. Hermione instantly pushed him away with a high-pitched laugh that was everything but natural. “Ahem…I need to go to the bathroom !”.

And she pulled herself out of his reach and disappeared before he could say anything. As she walked to put as much distance between them as possible, she heard a familiar voice: “Hermione ? Hermione !”.

The prefect of Gryffindor has never been so relieved to see Harry. Even though he showed no compassion regarding her situation, she preferred this rather than kissing someone like McLaggen. She gulped her mead, hoping to forget about this awful evening, and found herself even able to tolerate Professor Trelawney’s blabbering about the end of the world. Until she noticed Cormac’s hair heading towards her once again.

“Oh no…”, she whispered, turning away to leave.

This guy was worse than a bloodsucker. For a second there, she almost regretted not coming here with Malfoy. Speaking of the devil… she moved out of Filch’s way who seemed ecstatic to drag Malfoy by the ear. What was he doing here ?

_“All right, I wasn’t invited!” he said angrily. “I was trying to gate crash, happy?”_

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned away from the scene. And then he dared say she was the one doing stupid things. She tried to hid behind the organza curtains but imediately got out when she realized a couple had the same idea.

“Ah ! Hermione !”

“Luna ? I thought you were talking to professor Trelawney”

“Oh, she didn’t seem very enthusiastic about me praising Firenze’s class”, Luna shrugged.

“Where’s Harry ? He’s not with you ?” Hermione looked around to find him.

“Oh, he went to the bathroom. Where’s Cormac ?”

“Far away, hopefully”, the prefect of Gryffindor mumbled.

“It’s strange of you to come with him”, Luna said. “Is it because you got in a fight with Ron Weasley ?”

“Sort of”, Hermione avoided her gaze. “He’d been really rude with me.”

“That’s strange. I had hoped you would have talked to him.”

“Except Ron is stubborn like a Blast-Ended Screwt ! And he…Oh no !”

Cormac, like a vulture, was wandering around, looking for her, obviously. Hermione hurried and left the party as fast as she could. There was nothing else she could do, now. She sighed with relief when she finally reached the corridor, where the fresh air was definitely better than the stuffy atmosphere of the party. Hermione straightened her dress and turned at the end of the corridor.

She stopped when she realized the whole place was flooded and the walls had been splashed with ink. Mrs Norris was hissing with rage and all her fur was stained with ink. Her eyes were staring at the ceiling, which could only mean one thing.

“Peeves !” Hermione called. “Get out of here !”

There was no response, but she could hear a snicker up there. The poltergeist was invisible, it seemed.

“I’m warning you, Peeves, you won’t get away with this !” Hermione threatened him.

She hadn’t brought her wand to the party – something she deeply regretted, as she fought the urge to cast a spell on McLaggen – and she couldn’t do anything so the poltergeist would run away. Hermione took a step forward, still looking at the ceiling when she saw dozens of ink pellets falling on her. She protected herself as she could, but her shoes were still stained with ink and ruined.

“Argh !” she screamed with disgust. “Come back here !”

“Let me help you with the cleaning !” Peeves said, suddenly appearing above her.

And he threw a water bomb at her. The prefect was getting ready to run, but he was faster than her and the bomb hit her head-on, making her stumble and falling on the ground completely soaking wet. Peeved screamed with joy.

“Peeves, you’re going to pay for this !” Hermione exclaimed.

She heard loud and quick footsteps behind her, followed by a door slamming. At the junction she saw Malfoy walking, seemingly angry and too lost in his thoughts to realize the state of the place.

“Hey ! Wait, don’t go !” Hermione tried to warn him.

Too late. Malfoy only jumped in surprise when Peeves screamed : “Here comes the second round !”. The prefect of Slytherin cursed when a big parchment soaked in ink hit him. Hermione saw him pulling out his wand and waving it at Peeves: “ _Endoloris_ !”

The spell nearly hit Peeves who flew away sneering: “Oh, little Malfoy is angry !”.

“Leave me alone !”, Malfoy shouted at him.

Hermione grabbed his arm to force him to lower his wand. “Are you crazy ?”, she exclaimed angrily.

“Why are you always in my way ?”, he retorted.

“You’ve just cast an Unforgivable Curse”, Hermione said coldly. “You could be in serious trouble for this !”.

Malfoy broke free from her grip so violently Hermione nearly lost her balance. “Whatever”, he said.

He had used the Imperius Curse many times before, as well as the Cruciatus Curse occasionally during his training with Aunt Bellatrix. It wasn’t that big of a deal. The Minister was just afraid, that’s why they banned these curses. The Killing Curse was the only one he never used… yet. Thinking about this, Malfoy paled. Snape just tried to get him to tell him his true mission, but now visualizing himself killing made him nauseous, even if it was a delusional old man like Dumbledore. He was about to go when he noticed Hermione’s dress. It was rare seeing her without her hideous wool cardigans. The only time she’s been the center of attention was during the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum. Aside from this time, she never showed her neckline.

And today, he understood why. The waterbomb Peeves threw at her had washed away the foundation cream she had used and now a blackish mark was showing, like a blade had passed right across her chest.

Dark magic. He knew that spell. And there was only one Death Eater who loved using it. Hermione hide the mark with her hand and tried to turn away when…

“Dolohov, wasn’t it ?” Malfoy blurted out without thinking.

“Excuse me ?” Hermione thought she heard him wrong, but he pointed mechanically at the magical wound with his wand.

“This mark, it’s…”

“Stop !”, Hermione ordered, brushing his hand aside so violently a red spark came out of his wand and hit a painting that fell off the wall.

“Hey ! We were talking”, said the wizard in the painting next to it.

“Sorry…”, Hermione murmured.

She sighed and looked at Malfoy, quite upset. But he could see there was more than anger in her eyes.

“It’s none of your business”, Hermione said in the aggressive tone he was usually using when talking to her. “Anyway, you already know, don’t you ? So keep your wand away from me.”

She glanced at Malfoy’s wand and he remebered the conversation he heard between her and Potter in the library, when they were talking about his involvement in Katie Bell’s case.

“You’re not afraid of me, Granger, are you ?”

Hermione raised an eyebrow. “Why should I be afraid of you ?”

“You tell me”, Malfoy said, waving at her wound.

To his surprise, she chuckled. “You’d never do something like this. I’m not afraid of you, Malfoy”.

Usually, Malfoy would never admit in any way an affiliation to dark magic. He learned at his expenses he could never brag about being a Death Eater, like he was implying at the beginning of the year. But this Mudblood’s mockery was intolerable.

“Well, you should be”, he said to her with all the hatred he could.

Hermione closed her eyes and sighed before shaking her head. She had a melancholic expression, glancing at him, all pale and thin. Him and all the problems he had: his father being accused of being a Death Eater, which she knew was true. But him, Malfoy… he was just…

“You’re just a child, Malfoy”, she murmured.

Malfoy couldn’t help but being shocked. She didn’t say this with a condescending tone, but with sadness. And it was exactly what his mother told him. He never got the chance to reply, because Hermione cut their conversation short: “Have a great holiday”, she said before turning away, hiding her wound as much as she could.

Malfoy wished he could tell her he could kill her, but stayed silent. He klicked his wand and cleaned the ink off his suit when he saw Cormac McLaggen coming his way.

“Hey, did you see Hermione Gran…wait, what happened here ?” he asked, looking around.

Malfoy was about to tell him to piss off, when Cormac said, pointing at the ceiling above him : “Ah, she abandoned you underneath the mistletoe, too ? Who does she think she is ? She’s the one who invited me ?”.

“Whatever, Blood traitor”, Malfoy retorted.

And he went away.

Snape, his mother, and now Granger…no one was taking him seriously. He was working hard on his mission, but it was never enough. And Dumbledore was right in front of him.

There was no one else in the Slytherin dorm when he went to sleep and pulled the curtains of his four-poster bed. When tears started to fall down on his cheeks, he realized they were all right.

Why did the Dark Lord give him this mission ?

He was just a child. And worst of all, he was terrified. Granger had been badly injured, yet she was standing still, ready to fight again. She was slaying her demons one by one. While he…

That night, like every night, he woke up from the same nightmare, where a deadly green bolt of light hit him. And he murmured for himself : “You’re just a child too, Granger. No one should be enduring what we’re enduring.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are appreciated ^o^  
> Thank you !


	10. Meeting his destiny

Hermione took advantage of the holidays to work on Slughorn’s potion. She thought at the beginning of the school year she would spent Christmas at the Weasleys’ but there was no way she was showing up after what Ron did to her. Well at least, she wouldn’t have to endure Phlegm’s sopiness with Bill.

The young woman attached a package to the great horned owl and watched him flying away. She had sent a gift to Harry as well and couldn’t help but wonder if Ron thought about her since he left.

.

.

.

He was sick of it. Malfoy really needed the Felix Felicis. Or maybe not ? The fake Galleon heat up in his pocket. Rosmerta did send the mead to Slughorn and fortunately, Filch would be too stupid to notice anything wrong with the bottle.

Slughorn would just have to offer it to Dumbledore, and his mission would be accomplished. However, even when the holidays started, Malfoy could see the director of Hogwarts who, although he seemed a bit tired, was still very much alive.

And now, every night, he could see Bellatrix insane expression in his dream, and the Dark Lord getting more and more impatient.

It made him sink even deeper in his paranoia and depression.

He _needed_ luck.

.

.

.

“The potion is still not finished, Malfoy”, Hermione said when he went to ask her.

She was reading an atlas and seemed annoyed.

“And honestly, I doubt it will be”.

The prefect of Slytherin felt shivers and straightened up. “What ? What do you mean ?”, he barked.

“The potion requires three Thestral’s mane hair.”

“So what ? There are Thestral in Hogwarts.”

He frowned when she glanced at him with disdain, as if he was nothing but dragon shit: he knew that look by heart.

“Thestrals migrate in winter to Ireland, Malfoy”, Hermione said with irritation.

“And we’re in Scotland, not at Durmstrang”, Malfoy reminded her, “You can’t tell me there are still some of them left around here.”

“There could be a colony spending the winter in the Forbidden Forest, but still, it’s too far from the castle. It would take days of walking.”

The prefect of Slytherin widened.

“What are you talking about ? _We’re wizards_ !”

“Oh, “we” ? I’m not a Mudblood anymore ?”, Hermione said with irony.

When he gave her a death stare, she returned to her atlas and said: “Even if we could go, it would be useless. I remember that at the last Care of Magical Creature class, none of us could see the Thestrals !”.

“I can see them now”, Malfoy said.

He froze when he realized what he just said. Hermione blinked with surprise and her expression saddened. Both of them turned their heads and there was a long silence.

“I would have been able to see them too”, Hermione murmured, “if Dolohov hadn’t knock me unconscious”.

Nothing was ever the same. She would have seen Sirius die, like Harry did. No one deserved to die. Maybe she could have done something, if she wasn’t unconscious. Hermione thought bitterly she would have traded all her knowledge about magic, all her magical powers and become a Muggle again if she knew it would bring Sirius back alive.

Malfoy saw her putting a hand on her chest, where –he knew it now- there was the scar Dolohov left. Hermione shook her head and seem to snap back to reality.

“We can’t explore the whole forest”, she said. “If we’re going there, we’ll have to decide on a search area”.

“Can’t we just ask that half-breed of gamekeeper to help us !”, Malfoy said.

“Don’t speak of Hargrid like this !”, Hermione protested. “And he can’t help us he’s…it’s not his job !”

She avoided Malfoy’s look. Now that Buckbeak, now named Witherwings was under Hagrid’s care, she didn’t want the prefect of Slytherin anywhere near the gamekeeper’s hut, scared that he would recognize him. Malfoy got up and put both his hands on the table.

“It’s simple, Granger”, he said, “tomorrow, we’re going at dawn. Either you wake up, or I’ll drag you out of your bed myself”.

Hermione sighed as he walked away. She had seen enough of Malfoy for the day.

.

.

.

“I don’t like this”, Hermione squeaked. “And it’s freezing up there !”.

Malfoy threw an old broomstick at her and she catched it. They were at the top of the astronomy tower, the tallest tower of Hogwarts.

“I don’t know how to fly”, she complained, still getting on her broomstick.

She couldn’t help but let out a scream when she levitated in the air.

“Come on, Hermione”, she said for herself, “you rode a Thestral and even a hippogriff. You can do this. It’s like in the Burrow’s backyard”.

Malfoy however, flew upwards so quickly Hermione wasn’t sure if she heard him screaming with joy. “Malfoy ?”, she called, but he was already high in the sky. She gained altitude, trying really hard not to look down. Malfoy was enjoying himself, apparently: he was flying high and low, taking sharp turns, pretending to fly towards her before deviating his trajectory at the last minute. Hermione rolled her eyes: she would have cast a spell on him if this wasn’t the first time in months since she saw him this happy.

“We need to find the Thestral !” she shouted at him, flying to the Forbidden Forest even though she already wanted to go home.

But Hermione straightened the broomstick a bit too harshly, causing her to sly upwards at full speed. She let out a loud scream which became hoarse as she went higher. It was very cold up there.

A hand crashed down on her broomstick to take it up a horizontal position, and a familiar drawling voice said : “Funny, you would make a great addition to Gryffindor’s Quidditch team.

Hermione grabbed the broomstick as hard as she could to keep herself from falling and looked at Malfoy with shock : “But…weren’t you down there a second ago ?!”

“I’m a Seeker”, he reminded her, “It’s my job to be everywhere. And my broom is way faster than yours”.

He let go of her broom and took out his wand, since Hermione was too petrified with fear to do anything at this height.

“ _Animalium Revelio_ !”

Nothing happened.

“We need to go above the Forbidden Forest”, Hermione suggested with a loud voice.

Malfoy nodded and was the first to go back down, trying to find something that could be a Thestral. Hermione tried to follow him, but she bent her broomstick a bit too much and dived way too hard. Malfoy heard her scream for afar and avoided a collision by taking a sharp turn. The prefect of Gryffindor was diving towards the lake with a terrified scream.

“Here we go again”, he sighed, amused and upset at the same time.

How could someone so brilliant at school could be so bad on a broomstick ? Hermione, fortunately, was able to maintain herself inches above the lake while Malfoy skidded right next to her, splashing swampy water all over her.

“Ugh ! You did that on purpose !” Hermione shouted while she kept on flying forward.

“Watch where you’re going, Granger”, he mockingly replied while going up.

Hermione realized much to her horror she was charging at a group of Ravenclaw who were chilling near the lake. She bent her broomstick upwards just in time but still heard them screaming in terror.

“Sorry !” she said to them.

She reached Malfoy with great difficulty and gave him a death stare while he was gloating.

“You’re really the worst”, Hermione mumbled in a huff.

“I could say the same for you.”

Hermione felt the urge to be done with this mission and it took all her courage to drew her wand.

“ _Animalis Revelio_ !”

“There something there”, Malfoy exclaimed, pointing at a silhouette flying in the distance. The Gryffindor squinted her eyes and saw that there was indeed something there.

“Well, at least, that was fast !”, the prefect of Slytherin said, rushing to get near the creature.

“Wait !” Hermione told him, I don’t think it’s a Thestral, they always fly in group…”

But Malfoy was stubborn – like her – and didn’t listen. Hermione was thinking on that lonely creature when suddenly it hit her. She cursed.

“Wait !” she repeated, charging at Malfoy, this time on purpose to block the way.

He stopped so quickly he almost fell off his broomstick before shouting: “Are you mental ? You nearly got us killed !”

Hermione glanced behind her. “It’s not a Thestral, believe me. Probably something else. They don’t come around this part of the Forest, it’s way too close to Hogwarts for them. We need to look…there !”.

She pointed at the opposite direction and sighed with relief when Malfoy followed her. Hermione waited till he flew past her before glancing over her shoulder: she had recognized Buckbeak and was glad she could avoid this encounter.

“ _Animalis Revelio_!”

This time, they noticed something on the north-east of the Forest. Malfoy was faster, so he landed in the middle of the Forest first. He got off of his broomstick and enjoyed looking at Hermione chose landing was much more bumpy and desastrous.

“I’m not feeling well”, she said while wincing.

She gagged and Malfoy looked away with disgust.

“Where are we ?” Hermione asked with a weak voice while taking deep breaths.

A distant shriek served as a reply. Malfoy couldn’t help but shiver. “No idea, but I don’t want to wait here and find out”.

Hermione drew her wand. Harry told her Malfoy wasn’t very brave the last time he went in the Forbidden Forest. Since he took the liberty of mocking her while they were flying, now it was payback time.

“Well, let’s go now”, she said.

She didn’t wait for him and started walking at a quick pace. Malfoy had to run to catch up, afraid to find himself alone in the Forest.

“Are you sure that noise wasn’t a Thestral ?” he whispered, worried.

“No, Thestrals don’t make suck scary noises”, Hermione replied with condescendence.

She did this on purpose to scare him and was satisfied when it worked. Malfoy winced, but noticed she was smiling.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you ?” he exclaimed with contempt.

“Careful, Malfoy, you can’t scream out there”, Hermione retorted with sarcasm, “you wouldn’t want scary creatures coming here, aren’t you ?”

He blocked her way to force her to look at him.

“Hey, I’ll have you know you’re getting an O thanks to me instead of a T ! You should be thankful and have some respect !”

“Respect ? Good one, coming from someone like you !”

Malfoy froze. Someone _like_ him ? Did she say that without thinking, or… was she implying that she knew he was a Death Eater ? Did Potter finally convince her ? What did she know ?

“Wha…What do you mean, someone like me ?” he barked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “For Merlin’s sake Malfoy, did you hit your head so hard I need to remind you you’re impossible to live with ? Each moment I spent with you were the worst !”

Malfoy knew Hermione was sensitive on one subject and didn’t hesitate.

“I don’t think so. At least I’m not hooking up with Lavender Brown.”

Hermione’s eyes widened and she was at a loss of words. Malfoy couldn’t help but sneer when he realized he won this round.

“What did I ever do to you, Malfoy ?” Hermione asked with a weak voice. “Talking to you is useless. You’ll never change”.

She blinked to prevent the tears from falling down and preferred resuming her walk to get away from him. But she couldn’t overlook his reply.

“What do you think, Granger ? You’re a filthy Mudblood, thinking you’re above everyone else. This past months with you were horrible.

Hermione turned to him with a determined look.

“Is that all there is ? Or is there something else ?”

Malfoy felt a knot in his stomach. She knew. He was certain, she had to know. What if coming here was a mistake ? She set a trap ? Maybe Potter would come out of nowhere. What if they’d make him pay for what he did to Katie Bell ? Malfoy grabbed her arm.

“Something else ? What do you know ?”, he shouted.

“Let me go !”, Hermione ordered him, pulling away. “Don’t you dare lay a hand on me again !”

“Who do you think you are, judging me ? You Mudblood !”

A whistling sound pierced the air and both of them saw a spear sticking in the ground right between them. Hermione and Malfoy each dived behind a stump. They didn’t realize their argument was becoming more and more louder since they started creaming at each other.

“What is it ?”, Malfoy whispered in terror.

Hermione glanced at the fog and saw a silhouette emerging. A creature she saw in books, but also because she met him many times since her arrival at Hogwarts.

“I know you’re here, humans”, said a guttural voice.

It was a centaur with dark hair and a beard. Hermione got out from her hiding spot and found him staring at them.

“We…we met before”, she said to him. “You’re Bane, right ?”

He nodded while looking at the stump where Malfoy was still hidden. Hermione knew centaurs were proud people and that Malfoy’s attitude could be interpreted as rude.

“Get up…Get up !”, she quickly said while grabbing his arm to force him to get up.

“Are you crazy ? This monster is going to kill us !”, he whispered back.

“Humans are not allowed here”, Bane angrily reminded them, crossing his arms on his chest.

“Yes, I know”, Hermione said, vaguely nodding. “But we came hoping we would find... other creatures, I mean we thought…”

The sound of approaching hooves interrupted her while another centaur came rushing at their left before stopping abruptly inches away from him. Hermione took a few step back, gripping Malfoy’s arm firmly. He didn’t try to free himself, as he was terrified.

“Humans !” Ronan ranted as soon as he saw them. “Our agreement with Dumbledore was clear !”

“Please”, Hermione begged, “we don’t want any trouble. We just came for one of our assignment”.

“Each year, you find a reason to come in our territory, Hermione Granger”, Bane reminded her bitterly.

Malfoy turned to the Gryffindor. “You know him ?”, he exclaimed with surprise.

“Not now”, Hermione murmured.

Malfoy rolled his eyes.

“We’re looking for Thestrals. Have you seen any around here ?”

Hermione forced him to turn to her. “What’s wrong with you ? Are you nuts ?”, she whispered with outrage.

Malfoy ignored her and showed the centaurs their broomsticks.

“We’re ready to leave and never come back”, he told them, “We just need to find the Thestrals. I believe you share your territory with them, aren’t you ?”

“Insolent brat !” Ronan retorted. “Who does he think he is ?”

Malfoy and Hermione both started back but another voice emerged from the fog : “Enough, Bane. The stars predicted troubled times are coming. We need to be ready.”

“Humans stepped in our territory again, Magorian !” Bane said.

“We didn’t do it on purpose, we swear. We thought you were Thestrals”.

“You two are young”, Magorian noted. “So we’ll forgive this affront”.

“It’s not a aff…”, Malfoy tried to say, but Hermione pulled his sleeves to shut him up.

“You’re too soft, Magorian !”, Bane said. “Human will take over our territory because of you”.

Hermione and Malfoy held their sighs of relief when the centaurs started to back away, despite Bane’s rant. Magorian however came near them and Malfoy felt Hermione’s grip tightening around his arm. Although it was painful as hell, he didn’t wish her to let go because it was also reassuring for him.

“Thestrals can be found around here”, Magorian told them. “You need to go west. Don’t forget one thing, though: the Forest is watching you, listening to you. Please understand that some things can be…dangerous to say out loud”.

His black eyes were staring at Malfoy who felt really bad and preferred to look at Ronan picking up his spear and giving him a death stare. They certainly have heard him calling Hermione a Mudblood.

The prefect of the Gryffindor was looking at her sneakers but stayed glued to Malfoy who replied, trying to be as cordial as possible : “We didn’t do anything wrong…”

Magorian was staring so intensely Malfoy wondered if he could be a legilimens.

“Your heart is troubled, Draco Malfoy”, he murmured. “So much anger, so much fear… something dark is upon you”.

The prefect of Slytherin’s eyes widened. He was too impressed to even get angry. Magorian wasn’t accusatory or anything. For some reason, his voice had a soothing effect. Like someone who just pointed out all the pain he was feeling since the beginning of the year.

“I… What do you know ?” he asked with a weak voice.

He really started to wonder if Magorian wasn’t a legilimens. After all, Firenze was a professor of Divination.

“It’s a lost cause, Draco Malfoy”, Magorian said with a sinister whisper. “You’re too young, too naive”.

“That’s not true”, Hermione said suddenly.

Both Malfoy and Magorian looked at her and she realized she said this out loud. She was about to apologize when she instead added : “Firenze said the same thing once. But it’s not true. No cause is really lost if there’s still someone to believe in it.”

She glanced at Malfoy who suddenly felt embarrassed. It was the first time Hermione took his side in front of him. But she had no idea what Magorian was talking, Malfoy speculated she would certainly not have the same discourse if she knew. The centaur sighed and said : “You should get going. We won’t show mercy next time”.

Hermione nodded and took Malfoy’s arm and they both walked away.


	11. Thestrals

For a few minutes, they didn’t say anything and just walked in the forest. Malfoy couldn’t help but thinking about what Magorian had said. Was he so easy to read ? Hermione, who was usually so quick to talk, was strangely quiet and he began feeling overwhelmed.

“Well, your Revelio Charm certainly works fine for us”, he mocked, “if we’re lucky, next time we might end up in the middle of a troll camp !”

But he clearly lacked sarcasm for once. Hermione didn’t reply to his provocation.

“Why don’t you talk to your friends about it ?” she asked.

“What are you talking about, Granger ?”, he retorted.

Hermione glanced at him.

“What Magorian said to you.”

“So what ? He’s just a stupid creature !”

Hermione sighed.

“Malfoy, I don’t want to sound nosy…”

“Then don’t.”

“Your behavior already caused you enough trouble, when we take a look at your grades”, Hermione said. “You need to fix whatever is wrong with you and get a hold of yourself.”.

Here we go again. As Hermione was walking past him, she heard Malfoy’s weak voice.

“If only you knew how much I hate you”, he sighed, wiping the dirt on his cheek.

Hermione turned to look at him. He had stopped walking and was staring at the ground without really seeing it. He never looked so weak and distraught. In this forest, his dark circles were accentuating his palor. He was just a shadow of his former self.

“I hate you”, he repeated in a whisper. “I hate you so much”.

He was pinching his lips to refrain a whimper. Hermione felt empathy for him. She turned away to give him space.

“Yes, Malfoy”, she murmured. “I know you hate me. If right now this is the only truth you can hang on to, then I don’t mind you hating me”.

It didn’t matter if Malfoy hated her or not, she thought as she wandered deep in the forest on her own, leaving him behind to cry. But her heart hurt as she knew a few feet behind her was someone who felt so sad and helpless.

.

.

.

Killing Dumbledore.

Gaining the Dark Lord’s respect.

These two truths of his new life were terrifying him.

Hating Potter and all his Gryffindor’s friend.

Hating the Mudblood Granger even more and take every opportunity to demean and humiliate her.

He couldn’t even do that. His old life at Hogwarts had been anihilated. And he could feel it would never come back and that things would only get worse from now on. And he wasn’t ready to accept that.

Malfoy got up, wiped away his tears and took deep breaths to calm himself. He wouldn’t take it anymore. Hermione was nowhere to be seen.

He walked faster and finally found her crouching down a slope. She glanced at him over her shoulder.

“Don’t make noise”, she told him in a whisper, “I think I heard something and there are footsteps. They can’t be far, now”

“Let’s hope it’s the Thestrals”, Malfoy replied, hoping it wouldn’t be Bane.

He crouched down next to her and was relieved she didn’t turn to look at his eyes red with weeping.

“Look”, Hermione murmured. “Do you see anything ?”

Malfoy was trying to see anything but they were probably in the darkest part of the forest right now, it was hard to tell. The sun could hardly be seen through the thick branches. Hermione herslef wasn’t sure about the time of the day.

“What am I supposed to see, now ?”, Malfoy whispered. “No one’s here”.

“I’m sure they are”, Hermione insisted.

Malfoy wondered if she was messing with him. “There’s nothing here”, he insisted.

He tried to stand up but Hermione grabbed him to force him to remain crouched.

“Wha…?” , he protested.

“Shh !” Hermione whispered in anger. “Try again !”

Malfoy frowned and was about to tell her to piss, or even throw a handful of dirt at her face so she’d let him go, when a big crack made them freeze. 

“Centaur ?” Malfoy silently mimicked, worried.

Hermione wasn’t feeling reassured as well and started to look around. Malfoy did the same when he saw a strange creature. Thestrals were horses with skeleton bodies. They weren’t very appealing, but their white eyes were making them really scary.

“I’m not sure it’s a centaur, this time”, Hermione murmured.

She was still looking around and Malfoy felt her grip tightening again. He was glad she didn’t let go this time. Another Thestral appeared, then a third one, a fourth one…

“They’re here…”, he murmured.

“Eh ?! Where ?!” Hermione said out loud.

“Shh !” Malfoy ordered her.

She immediately complied and he realized it felt nice being in a situation where he was the only one able to help her.

“Where ?” Hermione repeated in a whisper.

He pointed at the copse at their left, but Hermione looked without being able to see anything, which didn’t help. Malfoy couldn’t help but sneer.

“If you could see your face, Granger !”

“Oh, shut up !”, she retorted, feeling offended.

The more they were, the more uncomfortable Malfoy was getting.

“We should leave quickly, there’s a lot of them, now”.

With his broom, he didn’t think he could pierce through the thick foliage. And Thestrals kept showing up.

“Don’t be ridiculous”, Hermione replied. “They’re not dangerous”.

She perfectly remembered her last encounter with Thestrals, last year, when they needed to go to the Ministry of Magic.

“This one is getting closer”, Malfoy noted.

He drew his wand, but Hermione stopped him. She was close, so Malfoy only needed to glance at her.

“Hands off, Granger”.

“Malfoy, there’s a Muggle seying that goes like this: “You attract more flies with honey”. Do you know what it means ?

The prefect of Slytherin looked at her with surprise. It was rare he found himself learning about Muggle culture, since all his friends were pure blood. Hermione seemed to notice his confusion, because she explained:

“Basically, I’m telling you that if you want Thestrals to be nice to you, be nice to them”.

She nodded at his hand still firmly gripping his wand. Malfoy sighed and lowered it. A warm breath blew on their cheeks, making them turn. During their conversation, they didn’t realize one of the Thestral came closer to look at them.

Malfoy jumped in surprise with a curse, dragging Hermione who squeaked.

“What, what’s happening ?”, she stammered in panic.

They both bumped into a tree root as the Thestral backed out immediately, scared by their sudden moves.

“What, is there one near us ?” the Gryffindor asked.

Malfoy nodded, staring at the Thestral.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, don’t be afraid”, Hermione murmured.

Malfoy wondered if she was talking to the Thestral – whom she couldn’t even see – or to him. The creature seemed hesitant, but still bent to sniff them.

“This is humiliating”, he mumbled, turning his head to look away.

He didn’t let go of Hermione’s hand and was squeezing it like she used to do. Used to do… sounded strange in his head. He dragged her back.”

“He’s sniffing us”, he said. “If you don’t want Thestral’s slobber on your clothes, stay like this.”

Hermione turned her head and they both stare at each other. Then she giggled.

“This is ridiculous”, she noted.

Malfoy couldn’t agree more, even though he didn’t say it out loud. They were huddled together in the middle of the Forbidden Forest with a young Thestral sniffing them and lying against a tree root and mud staining his overpriced coat. What was awful was Granger’s cheap perfume he could smell. Even worse, her hazel eyes were staring at him. No… the worst of it all was that he could see every details of her face.

The Thestral finally backed away, much to his relief.

“I think he just wanted to see if we were a threat”, Hermione said while straightening up.

“So, aren’t we supposed to like, take one of their hair ?”

“I got it, but it will be hard with just one hand.”

She gave Malfoy a meaningful look and it was only a few seconds too late that he realized he was still squeezing her hand. He let go abruptly and Hermione gave a hint of a smile while opening her shoulder bag.

“I know, I know”, she said before he could retort anything, “I’m a Mudblood and my hand is filthy. No need to remind me, we have more urgent things to do.”

She pulled out something wrapped in a cloth and showed it to him. Malfoy lifted a corner of the cloth and frowned when he saw big slices of raw meat.

“Did you kill your cat or what ?”

Much to his surprise, Hermione laughed.

“No…Luna gave me the idea”, she replied. “I just went to the kitchen. Go ahead.”

She tried to get him to grab the meat but he raised both his hands.

“I’m not touching this, it’s disgusting”, he mumbled. “You do it”.

Hermione rolled her eyes and took off one of her glove to take one of the slice.

“Where am I throwing it ?” she asked.

Malfoy pointed at the ground a few feet away from them and Hermione threw it.

“How is it ? Did they see it ?” she immediately asked.

Every second of silence were making her more anxious and Malfoy was loving it. Some Thestrals glanced at the meat but kept on sniffing the grass.

“Well that worked”, Malfoy mocked her. “Even the white peacocks at my house are more receptive than them.”

“You’re too impatient”, Hermione sighed. “If I came to you and offered you Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, would you take them immediately ?”

The Slytherin raised one eyebrow.

“It that’s supposed to convince me, I don’t think we’ll get those Thestrals’ hairs anytime soon.”

Hermione sighed. “Fine, let’s try the other way. Let’s say you give me Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans…”

“I’d never give you anything, Granger. Stop that.”

“I mean I’d make sure they aren’t poisoned before eating them”, Hermione concluded.

“And you’d be wise to do that. I would probably be Doxy droppings”

“So you’re admitting you could give me something, then ?” Hermione teased him.

Malfoy opened his mouth but was taken aback. He didn’t like her being so familiar with him. Or more accurately, it made him uncomfortable, certainly he felt disgusted, judging by the knot in his stomach. He hated her. It was all that mattered. Her and her stupid “Outstandings”.

A very young Thestral with a white dotted coat sniffed the meat and took it in his mouth to swallow it.

“Look !” Hermione said with excitement, pointing at the meat disappearing.

“Okay, time to get serious”, Malfoy said. “At this rate, we’ll still be here after dinner”.

He reached for the meat in the cloth, but hesitated, torn between impatience and disgust.

“For Merlin’s sake, Malfoy”, Hermione said, “just take a piece and throw it !”

The meat was slimy and he couldn’t hold back a disgusted moan. He threw it closer to them, forcing the Thestral to get closer. His mother was staring at them to make sure they weren’t a threat.

Now, he was very close, and sniffing the remaining meat Hermione was still holding.

“He wants to eat the meat in the cloth”, Malfoy told her.

Hermione raised her arms upwards.

“You’re hungry ?” she asked to the Thestral he couldn’t see.

It was a comical situation. Malfoy looked at the little Thestral trying to reach the meat that was now too high for him. He held out a laugh and put his hand on Hermione’s forearm to lower it.

“It’s a baby Thestral” he added. “He can’t reach it”

“Oooh…I hope he’s not scared”

She had a little scream when she felt a pressure as the Thestral was eating the raw meat.

“You have to use a Severing Charm to get some of his hairs”, Hermione told him. “Well, if you can do it…”

Malfoy gave her a death glare.

“Don’t insult me Granger. I can cast that stupid spell”

“Yes, I remember your Outstanding performance in Charms”, Hermione said with sarcasm. “You cut Neville’s hair !”

“And he was looking way better”, Malfoy pleaded with pride. “Very manly”.

Hermione was surprised and when she smiled Malfoy realized he was playing her game.

“Ehm… anyway”, he pulled himself together, “I can do this. Focus on the Thestral”.

“No way, I’m watching you”, Hermione retorted.

“Granger”, Malfoy sighed. “Trust me for once…”

“Well that’s the best yet !” the prefect of Gryffindor sneered, which wasn’t like her. “I’ll have you reminded that you don’t trust me !”

“Looks like you haven’t much choice. He seems hungry and anyway, you can’t see him !”

The baby Thestral was still sniffing and eating the meat in Hermione’s hands. The Gryffindor cringed but surrendered:

“Fine ! But be quick ! The mother can think you’re attacking him.”

Malfoy flicked his wand and murmured: “ _Diffindo_ !”

Some hairs of the mane of the Thestral came off and levitated in the air. Malfoy caught them mid-air.

“There’s a bottle in my bag”, Hermione told him while the baby Thestral was starting to eat the last slide of meat.

Malfoy didn’t want to touch her stuff, but he opened her bag and put the Thestral’s mane hairs in the bottle.

“Great, now, let’s move”, he said.

He got up, gave his suit a quick brush. Hermione waited patiently for the Thestral to finish his meal before following Malfoy.

“I’m happy it’s over”, she sighed.

“You owe me a coat”, Malfoy remarked while noticing that their little adventure in the Forest completely ruined his clothes. “I shouldn’t have come hanging out with these creatures. It’s dangerous”.

“Don’t be ridiculous’, Hermione retorted. “Thestrals are pacifist creatures. It’s all these stupid beliefs people say about them that make them look scary. I wish I could see them.”

Malfoy stopped dusting off and glared at her.

“Really ?”

Hermione realized what she just had said.

“I…No, I mean…no, of course not…”

She seemed at loss of words and lowered her head in confusion. But Malfoy understood what she meant. Granger had this habit of wanting to know everything.

“I’m glad I could see them…Pucey was always scaring us about them in the third year !” he justified himself. “Now I can do the same with the first years.”

Hermione rolled her eyes while smiling. She knew he said that to appease her but she was curious about one thing.

“Ehm…Malfoy…”, she stammered. “I’m sure you don’t want to talk about it, but…”

She hesitated while his grey eyes gazed at her.

“Who did you see die…?”

But suddenly, loud panicked neighings made them jump with surprise. Thestrals were taking off in a very rapid beating of wings. But this had nothing to do with their meticulous migration order Hermione read about in _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_.

The Thestrals were rushing away.

And, Malfoy and Hermione thought, it certainly had something to do with the ruckus charging at them.


	12. Facing your fears

The two prefects gazed at each other in horror.

Malfoy reacted by pointing his wand towards the top of the slope where they came.

“ _Accio broom_ !”

Hermione didn’t do the same. She ran on the side to be out of the path of that thing threatening to burst at any second. And she was right, because Malfoy was barely able to hit the floor with his heel before a shapeless mass emerged from the dark.

“GRAWP !” Hermione couldn’t help but exclaim.

Fortunately for her, her scream was covered by the Thestrals’ panicked neighings. Malfoy was only 6 feet away from the ground when he realized the thing charging at him was a giant screaming. The prefect of Slytherin rolled on the side to avoid a collision, but Graup seemed more happy to play with the flying Thestrals and was trying to catch them with both of his hands.

“ _Stupefy_ !” Malfoy exclaimed.

But his spell only bounced on the giant’s thick skin.

“No !” Hermione shouted at him. “Don’t hurt him !”

She was running the other way so Hagrid’s half brother wouldn’t see her, but she realized the centaurs could come hurt him if she let him roam around. He needed to be still until the Thestrals were away, then he would calm down.

“ _Incarcerous Maxima_ !”

A thick rope winded itself around Grawp’s waist before binding him firmly against the nearest tree. The giant was stopped right away and turned to the tree with a confused grunt.

Hermione wasn’t sure the tree would hold for long, especially if Grawp was trying to break free by waving his arms and roaring to show his annoyance.

“Watch out !” she screamed at Malfoy.

Even though he had good reflexes, the prefect of Slytherin didn’t react fast enough: with the back of his hand, Grawp slapped him so hard he crashed right against a tree stump. Hermione ran to him as fast as she could, avoiding a branch falling on her to grab Malfoy.

“Come on, let’s go !”

“I’m trying !” Malfoy retorted while leaning on her.

But Hermione knew Grawp’s mess would soon attract Magorian and she wasn’t certain they would be happy to see them here.

“ _Accio broom_ !” she said, pointing at the Cleansweep Five she flew on.

It was a miracle Grawp hadn’t seen them yet, since he was focused on the Thestrals. But Hermione didn’t feel like introducing Malfoy to Hagrid’s half brother, and she knew Grawp would recognize her.

The two wizards got on their brooms and quickly flew away before other creatures showed up.

.

.

.

They crissed-crosseed between the trees between what seemed like an eternity, without knowing if it was their imagination, or if Grawp’s roars were after them. After a while, Malfoy was forced to stop, as he was feeling a sharp pain at his abdomen.

“It’s okay”, Hermione reassured him, “It doesn’t look bad.”

“It doesn’t look bad ?” Malfoy retorted with a frown as he leaned against a tree. “This bloody giant will pay for this !”

“He didn’t do it on purpose !” the prefect of Gryffindor protested.

“I think I’ve had my fill of your friends of the Forest, Granger”, Malfoy sighed.

He wished he could shout at her, but they were still in the centaurs’ territory. The air became fresh as it was growing dark. Malfoy sighed and closed his eyes, letting Hermione sitting next to him and tying her shoelace. 

“We should get out of here”, she said. “The Forest is dangerous at night.”

“Just one minute”, the Slytherin groaned in pain. “I can’t fly like this”.

Hermione knew that as a spoiled brat, Malfoy had this distinctive characteristic of whining for the slightest injury.

“For Merlin’s sake, Malfoy”, she sighed. “You were just hit by a giant, not thrown in the middle of a gang of Blast-Ended Skrewt !”

“As if you had any idea what it feels like”.

Hermione smiled when she remembered the time Grawp grabbed her.

“I do, actually”, she mumbled.

Malfoy frowned.

“How do you know all these people from the Forest, seriously…”

Hermione took out her wand and replied: “It doesn’t matter. Show me your bruise, I’ll heal you”.

Malfoy moved away.

“Touch me and I’ll kill you”, he warned her.

“Wow, you have a short memory”, Hermione defiantly said. “If I had to kill you each time YOU touched me, you’ll be dead a thousand times. Heal yourself then, or I’m leaving without you.”

She put the wand back in her pocket and sighed while looking away. Malfoy leaned back against the tree and tapped at his bruise with the tip on his wand. A blue light touched the bump which started to resorbs. He felt way better.

“Can I at least catch my breath ?” he asked her.

Hermione knew he didn’t want to be left alone here.

“Two minutes, not one more !” she warned him.

She wrapped her arms around her knees. They were both sitting next to each other in this bloody Forest. It was just surreal. At some point, he spoke:

“A Mudblood”.

Hermione sighed with irritation.

“I’m leaving if you’re being like this”.

“I wasn’t talking about you.”

Malfoy had his eyes closed.

“It was a Mudblood I saw dying. Hit by…a car. In front of us.”

He was lying about that last part. Hermione realized he was telling him who he saw dying.

“Us ?” she repeated.

Malfoy opened his eyes and lied again.

“My mother and I. We were at Hampstead for some business and… it just happened.”

He couldn’t tell her Bellatrix killed someone right in front of him to “get him used to it”. Just thinking about it, he felt sick.

“This is where I live”, Hermione murmured. “Hampstead. I heard about that.”

They glanced at each other.

“What a dreary place”, Malfoy mocked in order to break the tension. “It fits you”.

Hermione smiled. She was starting to get accustomed to this.

“So what were you doing there ? Paying me a visit ?”

Malfoy was thinking of a lie but Hermione didn’t wait for his reply. A deep roar broke the silence, making them freeze in fear. They both turned their heads to the left with fear.

“If you can make fun of me, I guess you caught your breath, right ?” Hermione asked anxiously, still glaring at the bush where the roar was heard.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here”, Malfoy quickly replied, looking at the same bush.

They got on their brooms and flew above the Forest before finally returning to the castle, which seemed surreal in the middle of the winter fog.

.

.

.

“You could at least thank me, I saved you from a T in Potions”, Malfoy mumbled.

They landed at the top of the astronomy tower, knowing very well that Filch probably locked up the broomshed.

“I’ll wait till we have a O for this”, Hermione replied. “I mean, working with you is no picnic”.

She took the twigs on her robe and added mechanically: “Between all your curses and your shady business…”.

“What do you mean, shady business ?” Malfoy asked angrily.

Could she hear his heart racing, could she see hie eys filled with fear ? Hermione sighed.

“Of course. I was joking.”

He didn’t know if it was true or not. Blood was pounding in his ears. Was it why she defended him against Magorian in the forest ? Why she gave him privacy when he was about to cry ? To coax him into confessing everything to her ? So she could report him, of course ! Potter filled her head with all his suspicions !

“What are you doing ?” Hermione exclaimed.

Malfoy had grabbed her arm and was squeezing it so hard she couldn’t feel her fingers. Hermione’s fingers quickly grabbed her wand in her pocket but before she could pull it out, Malfoy’s wand was already pointed at her throat.

“You can stop your little game, Granger”, he hissed. “Stop being a hypocrite now”.

“What are you… let me go ! What’s wrong with you ?” Hermione exclaimed, trying to break free. “You’re crazy !”.

As a response, Malfoy’s tip of the wand started to burn her skin as he went on:

“What do you know ? What nonsense did Potter put in your head again ?”

“What are you talking about ?”

Malfoy’s grey eyes were crazy, as if the Hogwart student wasn’t here anymore and now Hermione was standing in front of a stranger completely lost and insane. Hermione gazed at him with panic and stammered:

“I… We need to get you to Madam Pomfrey… Or Snape…”.

“Don’t mess with me, Granger !”, Malfoy shook her. “ _You know_ ! You know why I’m here, right ?!”.

“No, I don’t !” Hermione protested, trying to walk back so she wouldn’t feel the burn of Malfoy’s wand anymore.

Unfortunately for her, she bumped against the desk Seamus used to sit last year.

“Don’t lie to me !” Malfoy exclaimed, tightening his grip. “Stop messing with me ! You know why I am acting this way !”

“For Merlin’s sake, Draco !” Hermione abruptly said, forgetting to call him by his last name. “We all know why you’re acting this way !”.

Her eyes darkened. Malfoy was shocked. Did he hear well ?

““We all know” ?”

“Yes ! Did you see yourself these past few months ?!”

The Gryffindor felt he was loosening his grip and took the opportunity to break free so abruptly that Malfoy dropped his wand which rolled on the floor. He was confused. We ? _We_ ? Was he that obvious ? He did everything he could to be discreet !

“Then… you know that…”, he stammered, livid.

Does this mean Dumbledore knew about him too ? Potter was very close to the director, he certainly told him. But why wasn’t Dumbledore doing anything if he knew the Dark Lord chose him to kill him ?

“Of course ! Who wouldn’t be devastated ? Your father is in Azkaban and the _Daily Prophet_ is dragging your family’s name through the mud !” Hermione shouted at him.

Malfoy was so shocked he thought he heard wrong.

“What ?” was all he could manage to say.

Hermione sighed and close her eyes to take a deep breath.

“Look. I know this year is not easy for you since the Ministry has your father in its crosshairs. And I know you’re always alone because your little Slytherin friends think you’re not worthy of their company now that your family “lost its honor”. Which is ridiculous, by the way.”

Hermione rolled her eyes without even noticing how astounded Malfoy was.

It was the first time…

It was the first time he was Hermione Granger get it all wrong. All these years she always gave the perfect answer in every class sessions.

He felt so relieved he started to laugh nervously.

“What now ?” Hermione said, looking worried and annoyed at the same time.

Malfoy was acting more and more insane and she was starting to be concerned for him. One minute, he was threatening her like a madman and now he was laughing.

“Ah…Granger…” he finally sighed.

Hermione froze when he grabbed her by her shoulders and gazed at her with delight.

“I don’t think I ever liked you more than this moment”, he said.

The prefect of Gryffindor felt a knot in her stomach. In the Forest, he said he hated her, and now he liked her. Something was wrong. And she knew what it was.

“Malfoy, I think you’re having a nervous breakdown”, she said carefully.

He chuckled. Hermione took his hands in hers.

“We’ll get you to Madam Pomfrey.”, she said with a worried tone, slowly dragging her towards the stairs. “Maybe she can do something for you.”

But right at this instant, a sharp sound was heard. Plunged in the dark, Professor Sinistra’s desk was shaking on its own, causing a loud noise that would have alerted Filch if they hadn’t been at the top of the tower. Malfoy and Hermione backed away in a same movement and glanced at each other.

There were a few seconds of thinking and then…

“Peeves”, they said in unison.

Hermione barked at the desk:

“If you don’t get out of here, I’m telling professor Sinistra and I swear you’ll have a bad time.”

The drawer opened itself and something came out of it. Hermione was still holding Malfoy’s hands in hers and squeezed them as her whole body was freezing. She could hear Malfoy’s breath accelerating while fear was leaving him stuck in place, letting out some squeaks.

It wasn’t Peeves. And no one could laugh at Hermione and Malfoy for being terrified at this instant.

Something was walking towards them, going around the desk easily, even making a pile of parchments fall in his walk. The moonlight passing by the balcony revealed a spindly silhouette wrapped in a black robe, a pale bold head, snake-like slits for nostrils and black eyes with red eyes with cat-like slits for pupils.

“It…It’s…” Hermione stammered.

It’s impossible, she wanted to say. She never met him, but she knew it was him.

Lord Voldemort was right here, in front of professor Sinistra’s desk. He took one step, slowly, then another. The edge of his robe was floating.

He was here.

Voldemort had returned to Hogwarts.

Hermione and Malfoy took a step back at the same time, staring at the Dark Lord. They ended up bumping at the wall.

“But…H…How…”

“I failed…” Malfoy whimpered between his cries.

The Gryffindor could barely hear him and was thinking. Voldemort couldn’t be here. Dumbledore would have known. Hogwarts had dozens of protection spells, and only a few of them were listed in _Hogwarts: A History_.

_Hogwarts: A History_ _couldn’t_ be wrong ! It was impossible !

“He’s coming for me”, Malfoy cried. “He’s coming for me…”

Tears were rolling down his cheeks as he was whispering his litany faster and faster as Voldemort was walking towards them, pulling out his wand.

Then Hermione realized something was wrong. Why was Voldemort after them ? Why wasn’t he saying anything ? Even if he didn’t expect them to come here, shouldn’t he be saying something ? Why didn’t he kill them when they didn’t notice him ?

Hermione had a doubt. What if…

“ _Riddikulus_!” she exclaimed, pointing her wand at the Dark Lord.

Voldemort suddenly tripped over his cape and fell on the floor. A dark smoke escaped from the silhouette which dematerialized, and the Boggart rushed to the stairs to find another spot to hide.

“ _Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces,”_ said Professor Lupin. “ _Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks_ ”.

Hermione let out a trembling sigh and let herself fall on the floor with Malfoy, her eyes wide and filled with tears. Her mouth was still open because of that scream which she couldn’t let out and she started to cry against Malfoy’s shoulders. The prefect of Slytherin brought his knees under his chin and was shuddering.

“ _You see, the thing that really finishes a Boggart is laughter_ ”, professor Lupin was saying cheerfully.

“It’s not funny”, Hermione cried, her voice being muffled by Malfoy’s coat. “It’s not funny, professor Lupin…”

Malfoy wasn’t saying anything. He was haggard and couldn’t seem to process what just happened. For him, he was still in danger.

“He’s coming for me”, he whispered, holding on to Hermione. “He’s coming for me…”.

They ended up hugging each other while crying, like kids. Their tears got dry and for a long moment, it was the silence, only broken by sighs. Hermione remembered one last thing professor Lupin said: “ _It’s always best to have company when you’re dealing with a Boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become ?_ ”

Hermione was still in his arms when Malfoy heard her whispering:

“We’re scared of the same thing, Draco.”

She parted from him just enough to look at him with her eyes red with weeping.

“The Boggard turned into the same thing for the both of us”, she lamented with a hoarse voice.

Malfoy felt even sadder. Hermione wiped her nose and added:

“Voldemort is back. I think Boggarts are turning into him for lots of us.”

The prefect of Slytherin retched when he heard her pronouncing his name. He was jealous of her courage. When Hermione moved to stand up, he took her arm gently.

“Thank you”, he murmured in a trembling whisper.

The Gryffindor smile between her tears. She wanted to pat her shoulder, like Harry used to do when she was reviewing his transfiguration homework, but restrained herself from doing so. Malfoy would push her away, wouldn’t he ?

“Ehm…”, she hesitated, “I…I can leave if you want.”

The Slytherin looked at Hermione’s trembling hand inches away from his shoulder and suddenly realized how lonely he had been since he arrived at Hogwarts. He hadn’t touched anyone for so long. He slowly let his hand slide on Hermione’s neck, and then her hair before pulling her to him and kiss her.

Hermione’s eyes widened and she blinked to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Why did this Boggart had to leave his hiding spot ? But the intensity of all these emotions she had felt for the last minutes were taking form in his kiss which was making her whole body trembling. She closed her eyes and kissed him back. It wasn’t bad… he was a better kisser than Viktor Krum that was for sure.

But Hermione realized quickly _who_ she was kissing.

“Malfoy”, she said, slowly pulling away.

She lowered her head for a few seconds and took a deep breath. Her hands were shaking and she couldn’t even bring herself to put them on his shoulders. When her eyes met his, she had a neutral expression.

“Don’t do something you’ll regret afterwards”, she said gently, a sad smile on her face.

And she got up and left the classroom.


	13. Worrying about each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter of transition !

Malfoy was playing with the Silver Snitch he got as a gift during his third Christmas in Hogwarts, a limited edition that was sold during the Quidditch World Cup two years ago.

“We’re leaving for the holiday”.

The prefect of Slytherin turned his head and saw Crabbe and Goyle judging him with an unfriendly look.

“So ?”, he replied.

“We just wanted you to know we won’t be keeping watch for you and your mysterious project.”

Crabbe and Goyle, who had always treated him with respect, now were looking at him like he was a nobody. Malfoy frowned and lied back down on the couch without even a comment.

“See you, then”, Crabbe sneered, upset by his lack of reaction.

The scraping noise of the wall closing on them left place for a smothering silence in the Slytherin’s common room, where only the cracking of the fire could be heard. Malfoy was lost in his thoughts.

He never should have kissed Granger.

But the strangest thing was he didn’t feel anything he should have felt : no disgust, no nausea.

His head was completely empty.

.

.

.

He only spent a few minutes in the library, just the time to borrow some books and avoid Hermione. But nonetheless he saw her walking after him and calling him.

“I’ve been looking for him”, she said, mechanically grabbing his arm.

Malfoy looked at her hand with wide eyes.

“Let me go, Granger”, he replied crossly.

Why wasn’t he pulling away like he used to ?

“I just wanted to tell you the potion is almost ready. It just needs to simmer for some days”.

She said that in a neutral tone, as if nothing happened.

“Great”, he concluded.

“Thank you for finally trusting me”, she mocked him before going back to the table where she was working on her Charms essay.

Malfoy glanced behind him to see if someone had seen them, but there was no one here except Madam Pince wandering around the History of Magic section: he decided to catch up Hermione.

“I don’t know what’s going on in this head of yours, Granger”, he hissed at her, “but it’s not because we nearly died from a giant’s attack that it gives you the right to be so familiar with me.”

She glanced at him and raised one eyebrow.

“You know, Harry and Ron couldn’t stand me at first. We became best friends after they saved me from that troll Quirrell snuck into the castle in the first year.”

Malfoy blinked. He remembered this, and mostly the jealousy he felt when he learned that Potter beat a troll without being expelled or given detention while he hid under the cover in his dorm like a coward.

“Even though I know that deep down, you’re not as horrible as you want me to believe”, Hermione went on, “I suppose dealing together with centaurs, a giant, Thestrals and a Boggart can’t work a miracle between us.”.

And the prefect of Gryffindor went back to reading. Malfoy couldn’t believe it. She was acting as if nothing happened, with that condescendence he hated so much. The young man planted himself in front of her and put both his hands on her book to make her stop reading. Hermione jumped with surprise.

“ Always so superior, huh, Granger ?”

He was furious. Hermione raised an eyebrow and asked: “Malfoy, are you angry at me or at yourself ? I’ll have you reminded that _you_ kissed me.”

When he frowned, she knew she guessed it right. That was what was bothering him. The prefect of Gryffindor felt another useless confrontation incoming between them, so she decided to settle this once and for all:

“Don’t worry about it, it’s also my fault. I didn’t exactly tell you to stop back there. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. I mean it’s not like I’m going to brag about it…

Malfoy didn’t feel better after this. Hermione noticed, so she added:

“Good. Now that it’s settled on my side, you can deal with your problems _alone_. For once, you can’t blame me for sticking my nose in your business…

“Are you telling me you felt _nothing_ when you kissed me ?”.

It was a question that was going round and round in Malfoy’s head and he didn’t realize he actually said it out loud until Hermione’s eyes widened to look at him. So he went on with it.

“Nothing ? Not even _disgust_ ?”

Hermione did her best to hide her confusion.

“I…Do you really want to talk about this with me ?” she stammered.

Malfoy realized she was right. He really didn’t want to talk about it. After all, more important business were requiring his entire attention. Hermione looked at him sighing with exasperation before storming off.

Did the prefect of Slytherin always had these hints of blue in his grey eyes ?

.

.

.

Malfoy woke up sweating and lost his balance. He fell on the dusty floor of the Room of Hidden Things. Groaning about his hurting back, he wondered what time it was, but the pile of clocks on his left were all stopped at one to five for an obscure reason and weren’t helping at all.

As he was drowsing, Malfoy flicked his wand and caught one of the birds Hermione created the night Gryffindor won the Quidditch game and got out of the Room of Requirement. At least now, things were easier without Crabbe and Goyle complaining about the time he was taking in there.

He put back the bird in its cage, when he heard somehing.

“Well…well”, mumbled a voice tainted with a cruel joy.

The prefect of Slytherin froze and felt shivers. He was so sleepy he didn’t realize Mrs Norris was at his feet, purring at the punishment he was about to get. Malfoy turned around and saw a lantern lighting up Filch’s bony face, his dry lips strechted into a sadistic smile.

“What do we have here ? A student out of the dorm after curfew ? What’s more, a prefect, huh…

“Spare me this, you old Squid”, Malfoy retorted with a hoarse voice, “it’s the holidays”.

“The curfew still applies during the holidays”, Filch hissed. “Let’s go”.

.

.

.

“I will take it from here, Filch. You can return to your rounds.”

The gentle voice of Snape augured no good and Malfoy found himself hoping the caretaker would stay.

“At your service, professor”, Filch replied beforme storming off.

As soon as he closed the door, Malfoy’s jaw tightened.

“Don’t even think I’m telling you anything.”

“Oh, but you will say something, Malfoy. What were you doing outside your dorm at this hour ?”

“If you think this is about my plan, you’re…”

“ You’re lucky I came to you before professor McGonagall, who’s on guard duty tonight”, Snape retorted. “If your behavior is reported to Dumbledore…”.

Malfoy let out a nervous laugh.

“It wouldn’t change anything…”

That was true. It was only a matter of time before Dumbledore dies by poisoning… that is if Slughorn would deign finally curing the hangover he seemed to have since the party he threw before the holidays.

“It wouldn’t change anything ?” Snape repeated. “Why ?”

“That’s none of your business !” Malfoy’s tone was final. “I told you I don’t need your help ! I’m doing fine on my own !”

“And yet here you are, brought here by Filch and ready to get detention”, Rogue argued. “So I’m asking you again, Draco: _What were you doing out of your dorm at this hour_ ?”

The prefect of Slytherin retreated into silence, glaring defiantly at Snape. He had no chance to get it out of him somehow. Bellatrix taught him to close his mind.

“Filch said he found you in the corridor of the seventh floor”, Snape slowly said.

Malfoy blinked. Snape certainly knew the existence of the Room of Requirement since Dumbledore’s Army had been dismantled.

“Then it means…”

“It means”, Malfoy interrupted him with confidence. “ that I was looking for Hermione Granger”.

He couldn’t tell who was more surprise by his reply, Snape or himself. The professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

“Hermione Granger, you say ?” he repeated.

“The Mudblood Granger, if you can’t place her”, Malfoy said, upset.

He realized he didn’t like to use this term.

“And what were you doing, looking for Miss Granger ?” Snape asked bitterly.

“The Gryffindors’ common room is at the seventh floo…”

“I know where the Gryffindors’ common room is.”

“We have a pair assignment. I needed to see her”.

“In the middle of the night ?”

Good point. Malfoy sighed.

“Yes.”

He was trying to buy time, and Snape knew it. They stared at each other for some time. Malfoy tried to close his mind, but the memories about Hermione were roaming around. The astronomy tower, their embrace, the…

“We had a fight”, he said quickly. “I went to apologize to her, so we could work together”.

Much to his surprise, Snape became livid and he looked blank. Malfoy furrowed his eyebrows, trying to focus. But then he heard two voices he couldn’t recognize.

_“I’m sorry”_

_“I’m not interested.”_

_“I’m sorry !”_

_“Save your breath”_

Malfoy blinked and broke the contact. It was terrifying that Snape let his guard down. And unexpected. Who was that gingerhead, wrapped in a dressing gown with her arms folded in front of what seemed to be the portrait of the Fat Lady ?

But everything became blurry. Snape went back to reality. Nothing indicated if he knew Malfoy saw a fraction of his memory. The prefect of Slytherin couldn’t understand why he saw what he saw. Who were those people ? What had happened ?

“Interesting”.

Snape’s tone was not a good sign. Malfoy shook his head and decided to not think about it. He had more concerning matters right now.

“You, asking Miss Granger to forgive you, when you’ve always hated her”.

“I hate her !” Malfoy assured him. “But for an O in potions I…”

“What a moving speech, if I believe your latest marks”, the professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts commented.

“I’m not talking about me, she’s the one always freaking out about her marks, I wanted to…”

“And since when are you worrying about Miss Granger’s worries ?”

Snape didn’t believe him, but the question rooted Malfoy to the spot. The professor was right. He cared about Granger… somehow. Well at least he thought so. For once, he wasn’t running out of lies, he just couldn’t find the right answer either. _Since when_ , did he _actually_ start to care about Hermione ?

The office’s door opened suddenly and professor McGonagall came in.

“Severus, you do know I’m on guard duty tonight. Thank Merlin I ran into Argus. He told me the whole story”.

It was as if Snape just found dragon’s poop on his shoe.

“I have this under control, Minerva”, he muttered.

The Transfiguration professor gave a death glare to Malfoy who had a hard time hiding his relief.

“Well, Mr Malfoy, it seems we heard a lot about you this semester.”

Malfoy immediately started to worry. Would that old hag report him to Dumbledore ?

“Fifty points will be deducted from Slytherin, and you’ll have one week detention. Is that understood ?”

“Yes, professor”, Malfoy mumbled relunctantly.

“You really ended the year on a bad note, Mr Malfoy”, professor McGonagall sighed. “Now, get back to your dorm”.

And she stood there, leaving Snape no chance to add anything else. Happy to escape the Head of Slytherin House, Malfoy didn’t need to be told twice and stormed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my Instagram @petite_pirat3 where I post previews, feedbacks and date of publication of my Dramione fanfictions ! Stay tuned !!! ;)


	14. Hogsmeade

He was alone in the dorm on Christmas morning. Most of the Slytherins stayed with their families during the holidays, aside from some first years and fouth years. Malfoy wished he could go home too, but he didn’t want to see his overprotective mother. And especially not Bellatrix.

As usual, the house-elves left a huge sock at the edge of his bed. Malfoy frowned when he picked it up. It seemed relatively light, compared to the past years. With his father in prison and his friends not talking to him, there was no one left to give him presents.

His mother sent him an ugly pullover, probably knitted by Melody, their house-elf. One of these hideous green ones that didn’t fit him anyway. Nott and Zabini didn’t hold back from mocking him when he was wearing those, which made him hide them in his trunk. He just couldn’t throw away the gifts his mother was giving him, even though she was still treating him like a kid.

Pansy sent him a huge bag of candies from Honeydukes. Usually, he and his friends would spend the afternoon terrifying the first years by forcing them to eat Cockroach Clusters. But this year none of his friends were here. And even if they were, they’d probably ignore him.

There was also a little package with a tag with his name on it. When he recognized the writing, Malfoy paled and threw it away from him. He didn’t want to know what Bellatrix sent him this time. His aunt never gave him any gifts, and he was seeing her quite enough in his nightmares.

Nothing from his father, Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, or Nott.

Malfoy threw the sock on his bed, ready to sulk all day when he noticed a purple sheen. Something had fallen off the sock, a last gift that hadn’t been wrapped. Probably a last minute present. He took it between his fingers and saw the tag where someone hastily scribbled :

_To : Draco Malfoy_

_From : Hermione Granger._

.

.

.

“I don’t understand why you’re making such a big fuss about it”, Hermione calmly said.

She was walking through the park with her usual fast pace, forcing Malfoy to run to follow her. Hermione’s luggage was preceeding her and the noise it was making indicated that everything inside was being knocked over.

“Who do you take me for, you horrid little pest ?” the Slytherin hissed with spite, trying his best not to slip on the snow. “That’s embarrassing ! You forget who I am !”.

“No, I don’t”, Hermione retorted with the same tone. “It’s hard to forget how despicable you are. Believe me, giving you a potion for Dreamless Sleep is more of a gift for myself than for you.”

“Because you think I’d keep it ?” Malfoy said, giving her a death glare. “How do I know it’s not poison, or something else ?”

“Oh, don’t worry”, Hermione sighed as they reached the wrought iron gates of Hogwarts. “Unlike _someone_ , I’m not the kind of person who tricks others to drink some poison…or love potions”.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. So she’d never forgive him for this… well, why would he care what she thought of him anyway ?

“Why not ? You’re being quite the vengeful type recently, trying all sorts of pathetic schemes so Weasel would get jealous…”

Hermione sneered and suddenly did a U-turn to face him, forcing him to stop before bumping into her. Her luggage also turned, as if it was also glaring at him with contempt.

“Ha ! You wish I’d put so much effort for you”, she sneered. “Why would I even give you Amortentia, anyway ?”

They glared at each other for what seemed an eternity. The most spontaneous answer was obvious, but none of them wanted to say it out loud. Hermione spoke with a strangely weak voice:

“Because I… I’ll have you know that it would be quite pathetic to have you around forever. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have fluxweed to buy for our potion and a train waiting for me”

And she turned around abruptly, her hair twirling around. Malfoy frowned before this girl and her attitude. He was about to go back to the castle when he realized what she just said.

Fluxweed ?

A train ?

But more important… she was leaving the castle ?

She was going out of Hogwarts, who had its security measures increased these past months ? And yes, Filch was standing in front of the gate with some Aurors searching a group of third years Hufflepuffs.

“What are you doing in the Muggle world with a telescope ?” an Auror with a sour face asked, looking at the object.

“I need to get it fixed at Dervish and Banges”, the student replied with irritation, taking back his telescope from the Auror’s hands.

“Is all of this really necessary ?” Hermione asked.

“Order of the Ministery”, Filch replied. “Thank Merlin they have some kind of common sense. Not like this crazy old Dumbledore who wanted students going to Hogsmeade without a body search first”.

Armed with a Secrecy Sensor, he was scanning every student three times in a row, much to everyone’s annoyance.

“Hogsmeade ?” Malfoy repeated.

“Floo network is no longer linked to Hogwarts and to Muggles’ houses. It’s a matter of security.”, the Auror replied, staring at him like he was a total idiot.

Malfoy remembered he had to go see Rosmerta and verify if his Imperius Curse was still active. She hadn’t been communicating with him for a while now. He got in line behind Hermione. She glanced at him over her shoulder but ignored him. Malfoy made a face behind her back.

The road to Hogsmeade was icy, and Malfoy regretted not putting on warmer clothes. The cold wind on his cheeks gave him the sensation of a thousands needles piercing his skin at the same time. That being said, even wrapped in her coat with her beanie jammed on her head, Hermione wasn’t doing better.

Malfoy laughed when he saw a Hufflepuff student slip on the ice and falling, dragging his friend down as well and opening his case inadvertently.

“Are you okay ?” Hermione screamed through her scarf, hurrying to reach them.

But she tripped and nearly fell in the process. Pulling out his wand, Malfoy casted a Trip Jinx and enjoyed watching her gliding on the road with a loud scream.

“Malfoy you’ll pay for this !” he heard her.

The Hufflepuff hurried before he took them as a target.

“What, you’re the one who said I need to relax, Granger”, he mocked her while she was getting up carefully.

“What are you doing here, anyway ?”, she mumbled. “You need a special authorization by McGonagall to get out of the castle. And I don’t think you’d get one, since she gave you detention not so long ago. You’re taking advantage of us !”

“Well I’m not letting you ruin our potion”

Hermione seemed to restrain herself from jinxing him. In the end, she did a wave with her wand and the ice melted, drawing soggy path.

“Thank you !” the Hufflepuffs screamed in the distance.

Hermione waved at them and put her wand away. She didn’t even glance at Malfoy and went on her way saying: “If you want to waste your time so much, follow me, then.”

Malfoy sighed and walked behind her. He knew Snape would investigate his trip to Hogsmeade, so Granger was a great cover.

At least that was the reason he told himself.

But strangely enough, spending Christmas with Granger was better than being on his own.

.

.

.

“Let’s see…” Hermione hummed, her hands on her waist. “Where should I go, first, while waiting for the train ?”

They were both standing on the main alley. A very peculiar duo, and they were relieved none of their acquaintances were here to see this.

“Zonko’s Joke Shop is closed, Hog’s Head is really not a welcoming place, and going with you at Madam Puddifoot’s is out of the question…”

“ I wouldn’t go at this crone of Puddifoot’s tea shop with anyone…”, Malfoy interrupted her.

He was dancing about to keep himself warm and even regretted not having the hideous pullover his mother got him for Christmas. Hermione glanced at him and was obviously refraining herself from laughing.

“How do you know she’s a crone, then ?”, she asked maliciously.

The prefect of Gryffindor didn’t know if it was the cold of Malfoy’s embarrassment that turned his cheeks pink.

“Zabini was…forced to go there once… It’s true !”, he insisted when she giggled.

Thank Merlin, Pansy never dragged him inside this tacky place.

“Why don’t we just go to the Three Broomsticks ?”, Malfoy suggested. “I’m freezing here !”.

“So everyone can see us sitting at the same table ? No way”, Hermione retorted.

They bent forwards to protect themselves from a gust of wind.

“Whatever”, the prefect of Slytherin mumbled. “I’m going there.”

It was a great opportunity she was offering him. Hermione was a stubborn girl, she’d go on her business and he’d be free to take care of his own. He rushed to the Three Broomsticks and heaved a sigh of relief when he got in the bar where it was much warmer.

He went near the counter and saw an old wizard with a long beard wiping a glass and pouring drinks to the customers sitting in front of him. Where was Rosmerta ?

Malfoy pretented to go to the bathroom but fortunately, the barman was too busy serving the customers to notice him. The Slytherin found himself in the backroom. Two staricases were in front of him, one to the cellar, the other one upstairs to a locked door that didn’t open when he knocked. No one was there.

Malfoy heard the barman getting closer and got down to avoid being detected. But fortunately, the wizard screamed towards the cellar : “Rosmerta ! The bar is full ! We need you upstairs !”.

A noisy sigh of frustration was heard before he went back to the front with a heavy tread. Rosmerta was turning off the big tap of a enormous barrel of Firewhisky and was turning her back on him. Malfoy pulled out his wand and pointed it twards Rosmerta, his jaw tightening as usual when he was focused on something. He soon felt his wand vibrating in his hand: The Imperius Curse was still active.

“Hey ! Rosmerta ! Are you coming or not ?”

Malfoy felt his heart skip a heartbeat and turned quickly…only to find himself in front of the barman.

“What are you doing here ? Customers are not allowed here !”, he barked with a gruff tone.

Not the welcoming type.

“I was looking for the bathroom”, Malfoy replied.

The barman raised an eyebrow. “Can’t you read ? It’s not here !”.

Malfoy felt a knot in his stomach. He couldn’t understand why, but every word, every suspicious look was making him paranoiac. When he got back in the Three Broomstick’s main room, escorted by the wizard, he had the vague impression that everyone was looking at him. He needed to save face.

“One Butterbeer”, he asked to the barman who got behind the counter once again.

“Two Sickles”, the retorted.

It was only then that Malfoy realized he had no money on him. He initially got out of the castle to yell at Granger – which sounded stupid now – and didn’t bring his wallet.

“Eh…I…” he hesitated to the barman holding his gnarled old hand open to receive the money.

When he anxiously searched his pockets, he felt only a few Knuts. He won’t go far with those. He plunged his hands in his other pocket and froze. He had a coin, but it was the fake Galleon he was using to communicate with Rosmerta. He couldn’t spend it.

Suddenly, four shining Sickles fell on the counter.

“Make that two”, Hermione sighed at the barman.

Her hair was messier because the wind and her cheeks were pink with the cold. The barman gave them two tankards filled to the brim and went to sit at a table.

“I was doing fine”, Malfoy muttered.

“You’re welcome”, Hermione mocked him. “It’s ironic how you’re always showing off your wealth under Ron’s nose but right now you can’t even buy yourself a drink.”

She winked at him and he frowned.

“You owe me a Butterbeer”, Hermione added, putting her case near her.

“Weren’t you supposed to go to Dogweed and Deathcap ?” Malfoy retorted.

“Too windy. Even going to Honeydukes seems like a task from the Triwizard Tournament. And I have to go to Tomes and Scrolls too”, Hermione sighed.

Malfoy rolled his eyes.

“Wow, you certainly know how to enjoy a holiday. Must be why Weasel didn’t invite you to his house for Christmas.”

Hermione’s face darkened hearing that.

“So what ?”, she muttered, more for her than him. “Maybe he invited Lavender to introduce her to his family… Ha ! Mrs Weasley never liked clingy girls like her.”

She was lost in her thoughts, trying to imagine what a Christmas with Lavender could be. Malfoy wasn’t listening and instead was staring at the door to the backshop. Hermione followed his gaze and sighed with irritation.

“Madam Rosmerta’s not here, stop waiting for her !”

The prefect of Slytherin shivered and turned to look at her. “How did you know…?”

Hermione finished her Butterbeer in one angry gulp. “Tch…Boys ! You’re all the same !” she barked. “Ron is always staring at her too ! What is it with you all ?”

“And you have a problem with that ?” Malfoy asked, raising one eyebrow.

He wasn’t looking at Madam Rosmerta to check her out, but at least, he could cover his tracks.

“I don’t”, Hermione replied. “But I thought at least you wouldn’t. You don’t seem to like this type of girl”.

“I was asking if you had a problem about Weasel looking at her”, Malfoy said slowly.

The confusion made Hermione froze and her fingers tightened around her tankard. The prefect of Slytherin realized something.

“Are you telling me it bothers you if I look at her ?”

“Of course not !” Hermione said with a high-pitched voice. “Why would I care ? Don’t be ridiculous !”.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes, as if the whole idea of her being jealous was stupid. Malfoy couldn’t tell if it was the Butterbeer, or the Chocofrogs he ate: but he felt his heart racing.

“It’s just that she has nothing exceptional”, Hermione mumbled.

She was nervously playing with her tankard. Malfoy saw she was feeling uncomfortable and couldn’t resist mocking her when she exclaimed : “Are we going or what ?”

“I thought you didn’t want to hang out with me”, he reminded her.

“I don’t !”, Hermione replied.

She got up from her chair.

“But since you’re insisting on following me everywhere…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be published this Sunday ! ;) Stay tuned !


	15. A huge bag of beans

“Of course _you_ would think everyone would work on Christmas’ day”, Malfoy noted.

They were both in front of Dogweed & Deathcap, right next to Dervish and Bages. The door was locked and a sign has been hanged at the window: “ _Closed for the holidays_ ”.

“Never mind”, Hermione mumbled, “I’ll order it. Or I’ll ask Ginny to bring me some”.

She didn’t seem too disturbed by the news. But she couldn’t help but wondering if Ron would think about her if Ginny told him she received a letter from her. Maybe he’d be asking how she was doing…

While seeing Malfoy shivering in the cold, she sighed with exasperation.

“For Merlin’sake, Malfoy…”

“Why aren’t you giving up ? This is a lost cause, I told you I don’t want to buy a coat ! I’m fine !”

“If I thought you were a lost cause, Malfoy, I’d have asked Slughorn to break our team”, Hermione sighed. “And God knows how much I wanted it…”

She grabbed his arm and dragged him at Gladrags Wizardwear. Malfoy frowned when he smelled the musty smell of vintage clothes. Hermione only let him go in front of the coats stand.

“Pick one.”

“No way I am buying any of these.”, Malfoy said, looking at each piece of clothes as if there were nothing but dragon’s poop.

Hermione sighed and started to look by herself, like Mrs Weasley often did when Fred and George were balking at picking their own clothes. But she finally had to face the facts: Malfoy was right, every coat in the shop was hideous.

But she finally managed to take out a black-velvet coat that smelled like fish.

“I don’t have any money, Granger, Malfoy sniggered, and even if I did, I’d rather die freezing that putting this on.”

“Really ? No money, huh ? Let’s see that !”.

Hermione flicked her wand, and even though she was the best at non-verbal spellls, she clearly articulated : “ _Accio Galleons_! ”

Malfoy felt like a rock falling in his chest and tried grabbing the fake Galleon but it slipped through his fingers and landed right in Hermione’s hand.

“And what’s that ? ” she teased him with a victorious smile.

“Give it back !” Malfoy exclaimed, while snatching the golden coin from her hand.

She let him and shrugged.

“I’m not hanging out with someone who looks like he’s been petrified.”

She crossed her arms and gave him a condescending look. Malfoy winced and was ready to say something when he heard a saleswoman behind him, an old wizard with an awful mole on her chin.

“Yes, we have many beautiful coats for a boy like you”.

“I’m a man !”

“Who acts like a boy !” Hermione added behind him.

He glanced at her with a dark look but she seemed pretty amused. When he turned back, he jumped in surprise and took a step back when he found the old hag brandishing a yellow feather coat at him.

“We got this yesterday”, she barked while Hermione burst out laughing. “Perfect for your skin-color”.

It was too much for Malfoy, who brushed it with one hand and walked right out the shop, catching Hermione on his way while she was hilarious:

“But it would fit you so well, Malfoy ! You could be Hufflepuff’s new mascot ! Even Luna’s lion wouldn’t beat this ! Come on !”

.

.

.

They walked past Zonko, whose orange paint had faded since fall, making the usually shimmering storefront looking gloomy and depressing. Hermione suggested they stopped at Honeydukes. The smell of caramel in the air was good for them.

“One Pepper Imps bag and ten Cauldron cakes”, Hermione asked the saleswitch while looking for her wallet.

Malfoy was looking at the shelf full of huge bags of Bertie Bott’s every flavour beans, promising “new exclusive flavours”. Every Christmas, him, Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini and Nott were having a good time stuffing their faces with them, when they were not busy trapping Longbottom’s toad inside Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum.

“Oh, and one bag of Bertie Bott’s beans”, Hermione added.

Malfoy was sure she glanced at him. “Are you pitying me, Granger ?”, he exclaimed.

Hermione raised one eyebrow, staring at him mid-amused, mid-condescending. “I certainly am”, she admitted with a smirk. “You look like a homeless boy with your soggy sweater”.

The snow did soak the wool of Malfoy’s sweater, making it look deformed. Malfoy grabbed the bag of Bertie Bott’s beans and retorted: “Forget it ! I’ll pay myself !”

“One bag costs six Sickles”, Hermione reminded him.

The young Slytherin remembered bitterly he had no money. Hermione opened the bag she just had bought and presented it to him. Out of pride, he declined.

“As you wish”, Hermione dived her arm to her elbow to grab a bean at the end of the bag.

The minute after, she spat it in the snowy alley, surprising all the passersby.

“Ugh !” she exclaimed, “It tastes like…Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover !”.

Malfoy burst out laughing and Hermione frowned. “Oh yeah ? why don’t you try, then ?” she challenged him.

The prefect of Slytherin took a bean and put it in his mouth, not without some hesitation. Hermione looked at him blinking, trying to find out the flavour.

“Blueberry”, he finally articulated.

“Liar”, the prefect of Gryffindor provoked him.

“It’s true !” he insisted.

Hermione took a step closer to check his breath. Malfoy tried to step back, but bumped to the Owl Post’s storefront. Hermione was focusing on the smell, mechanically putting her hand on his shoulder to rise herself on her tiptoes. Malfoy’s eyes widened. She didn’t seem to realize her body was too close to his, or even the wizards coming out of the post office who were eyeing them. They may look like a couple from afar.

But why wasn’t he pushing her away as he usually did ?

“Hmm… fine, I believe you”, she mumbled, finally taking a step back.

The prefect of Slytherin came back to reality. For a few seconds, Hogsmeade had been warmer. Hermione cleared her throat.

“One to zero, then ? You want to play ?”

.

.

.

They spent an eternity on the bench of the station platform, stuffing their faces with Bertie Bott’s beans. The wind was carrying their laughters, especially when one of them was tasting an unsual flavour like dragon’s steak or horseradish.

Stuck between them was a jar inside where Hermione had casted Bluebells Flames to keep them warm, much to Malfoy’s relief.

“I can’t believe you got all the good flavours”, Hermione grumbled while the train for London was entering the station. “I’m sure you’re cheating !”

“Are you kidding me ? I had to Scourgify my mouth at least eight times to get off this awful taste of garbage.”

They had eaten so much beans they forgot the count. The passengers were going on board and Hermione sighed while giving him Bertie Bott’s bag: “One last ?” she proposed.

Malfoy took another bean and Hermione saw him refraining a frown.

“Chocolate”, he finally articulated.

“You’re lying again”, Hermione sighed.

“Why do you never believe me ?” Malfoy retorted while rolling his eyes.

All this sugar was making him dizzy.

“It was to be at least compost flavoured for you to make this face”, Hermione insisted.

“I hate chocolate”, Malfoy told her.

“It’s no fun playing with a cheater”

“Why don’t know check my breath if you don’t believe me then ?” Malfoy exclaimed, raising his arms as a sign of hopelessness.

Hermione raised one eyebrow but still got closer. Malfoy couldn’t figure out why he actually said that. The prefect of Gryffindor seemingly didn’t care about their proximity. Wasn’t she feeling anything ? Not even the slightest embarrassment ? He could smell her scent from her. All he needed was one move and…

He should never have eaten so much beans. Actually, he never should have followed Hermione at Hogsmeade. He should have come back to Hogwarts as soon as his business at the Three Broomsticks was done.

Hermione felt his pale hand slipping in her bushy brown hair as her lips met Malfoy’s. A kiss that was surprising for them both. Haven’t they said that they would stop ? Hermione felt as if someone cast on her a Full-Body Bind Curse, but it seemed Malfoy was in the same state.

None of them was moving to break free.

Hermione felt as if her cheeks were on fire and didn’t dare to think about what she was doing. Malfoy saw her brown eyes closing and he couldn’t see her confused gaze anymore. He was about to hold her closer, feeling that she would respond to his sudden embrace when…

“Train for London boarding ! Hurry !”

They both stepped away, as if they were burned by a salamander. Hermione blinked and they both looked away.

“ I should go”, Hermion stammered.

She took her stuff and walked towards the train. After getting on the first step, she turned and faced him. She couldn’t understand why she didn’t feel embarrassed like she should have been. She was absolutely calm.

“I’m coming back for New Year’s Eve”, she said.

Why was it so important for her that he knew that ? He kept staring at her with his intense grey eyes.

“Yeah… move along, Granger”, he mumbled.

Hermione was about to close the door of the train, when he grabbed her hand, looking as confused as she was.

“What do I do for the potion ?” he asked.

She seemed surprise. “What about the potion ? It needs to simmer, like I told you”.

Malfoy furrowed his eyebrows. “What about the fluxweed ?”

The horn indicated the train was about to leave. The doors were about to magically close and Malfoy wouldn’t be able to hear Hermione. But thankfully, she leaned forwards with an enigmatic smile on her lips: “The potion doesn’t need fluxweed. Merry Christmas”.

And she got away while both their hearts were skipping a beat. The door of the wagon closed, separating them for good.

And it was only then that Malfoy understood what his Christmas present really was: even though it was windy, rainy and cold, never Hogsmeade had been more beautiful than today. Even more than that: it was the first time in a long while he felt so good.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment ^o^ !
> 
> Check out my Instagram where I post previews, feedbacks and date of publication of my Dramione fanfictions ! Stay tuned !!! ;)
> 
> My Instagram: @petite_pirat3


End file.
